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.  GUTEKUNS7,    PRINT. 


THE 


Old  Navy  and  The  New 


BY 


REAR-ADMIRAL  DANIEL  AMMEN,  U.S.N., 


AUTHOR   OF 


THE   ATLANTIC   COAST   DURING  THE   CIVIL   WAR.' 


WITH    AN    APPENDIX    OF 

PERSONAL  LETTERS   FROM  GENERAL  GRANT. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY. 
189  1. 


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& 


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Copyright,  1891,  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company. 


RESPECTFULLY   AND   AFFECTIONATELY 
30cC»icatcft 

TO  THE  OFFICERS  AND  MEN  OF  THE  OLD  NAVY, 

WHO   HAD  TO   LEARN   THEIR    PROFESSION   AS    BEST   THEY   COULD,   AND 

HAVE    SERVED   THEIR    COUNTRY    WITH    MORE    OR    LESS 

DISTINCTION   IN    "TROUBLOUS   TIMES." 


PREFACE 


During  the  more  than  half  a  century  covered  by  this 
chronicle,  so  marvellous  have  been  the  changes  in  naval  archi- 
tecture and  armament,  in  the  development  of  means  of  locomo- 
tion both  on  shore  and  afloat,  and  in  the  establishment  of  rapid 
communication  over  the  whole  inhabited  globe,  that  the  intelli- 
gent reader  can  hardly  realize  that  they  have  occurred  within  so 
brief  an  historical  period  of  time. 

A  principal  object  of  these  memoirs  has  been  to  note  these 
mutations  in  their  order,  and  to  present  a  picture  of  naval  life 
as  affected  by  them.  The  writer  does  not  assume  that  his  ex- 
perience and  service  differ  materially  from  those  of  many  other 
officers  who  might  with  equal  propriety  give  their  memoirs  to 
the  public.  His  intention  has  been  to  make  the  narrative  as 
impersonal  as  possible,  representative  not  only  of  his  own  ex- 
perience, but  also  of  that  of  many  other  officers,  varying  from 
his  only  in  time  and  circumstances. 

If  this  volume  cannot  be  read  with  interest  by  the  youth, 
as  well  as  by  those  of  more  mature  years,  the  fault  must  be 
attributed  to  the  narrator,  and  not  to  the  character  of  the  scenes 
and  incidents  he  has  endeavored  to  depict. 

If,  through  the  over-appreciation  of  friends  who  have  per- 
sistently urged  the  writer  to  publish  his  memoirs,  he  has  been 
betrayed  into  an  indiscretion  in  placing  before  the  public  what 
may  prove  lacking  in  interest  at  present,  he  would  fain  hope 
that  at  some  future  time,  perhaps  after  the  lapse  of  a  century 
or  more,  the  book  will  be  quoted  as  an  authority  upon  the 
history  of  the  memorable  period  during  which  he  served,  if  not 
with  distinction,  at  least  without  reproach. 

Ammendale,  Maryland,  March,  1891. 


298657 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEK    I. 

PAGE 

Entry  into  the  Navy  as  Midshipman,  and  Service  afloat  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico — Father  of  the  Author  in  the  War  of  1812-15— He  moves 
from  Virginia  to  Ohio — Early  Eecollections — Neighbor  and  Compan- 
ion of  General  Grant— The  Author  rescues  Young  Grant  from  drown- 
ing— Letter  from  General  Grant  in  1877  referring  to  the  Incident — 
The  Great  Mood  in  the  Ohio  in  1832— Concludes  to  enter  the  United 
States  Navy — Appointed  Midshipman — Trip  to  Washington  and  Bal- 
timore— Sketch  of  Hon.  Thomas  L.  Hamer 15 

CHAPTEK    II. 

Trip  from  Baltimore  to  West  Point— Western  Bank-Notes  not  at  Par — 
Letter  from  General  Grant — Keceives  Instruction  in  Geometry  and 
Algebra — Voyage  to  Norfolk — Meets  an  Inquisitive,  Ill-bred  Man, 
and  disposes  of  him — Visit  to  Tailor  Hartshorn — "  Keep  your  Re- 
ceipts  and  make  no  Tailor-Bills" — Turns  out  in  his  Uniform — Re- 
ports to  Commodore  Warrington,  who  orders  him  to  report  to  Lieu- 
tenant-Commanding Dornin — Commodore  Thomas  ap  Catesby  Jones 
— Story  of  a  Collision  with  a  Whale  on  Board  the  Peacock — The 
Feejee  Island  Cannibals — A  Midshipman  tries  a  Practical  Joke  and 
gets  the  worst  of  it — The  Hospitality  of  Norfolk — Ordered  to  the  West 
Indies  on  the  Levant — Admiral  Farragut  a  Passenger — Assigned  to 
the  Sloop-of-War  Vandalia 23 

CHAPTER    III. 

Cockroaches — Mediterranean  Wingless  ones — Impure  Water — Bread 
filled  with  Bugs — Some  Remarks  on  the  Officers — "  How  we  did 
Things  in  the  Navy" — The  Gulf  of  Mexico — Eating  Dolphin — 
French  Vessels  blockading  Vera  Cruz — The  Island  and  Castle  of  San 
Juan— Turtles — Want  of  Bread— The  Aguacate,  or  Alligator-Pear — 
The  Caterer  and  the  Doctor — Off  for  Tampico — Sharks — Mosquitoes      34 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Sails  for  Pensacola — Billy  B.  and  Hamilton  G.,  the  Society  Men — A 
Duel  settled — Fulano — A  Boat  in  a  Norther — Taking  of  San  Juan 
de  Ulloa  by  the  French — The  Prince  de  Joinville — A  Weil-Known 
and  Popular  Officer  presents  a  Pig — The  Mess  gives  a  Dinner — A 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Temperance  Society — Commander  Uriah  P.  Levy  takes  command  of 
the  Vandalia — An  Irate  Landlord — Cleopatra's  Barge — Changes  in 
the  Wardroom — Lieutenants  Gist  and  Maffit — The  Fall  of  the  Tem- 
perance Society 43 

CHAPTEK    V. 

Sails  from  Pensacola — Getting  over  the  Bar — Bagdad — Trouble  in 
getting  Water — "Pooh!  pooh!"  from  the  Captain — Drilling  at  a 
Great  Gun — Under  Way  for  the  Mexican  Coast — Lieutenant  Gist's 
Lawyer's  Fee  in  Tennessee — Drowning  of  Lieutenant  Paul — Arrival 
at  Vera  Cruz — Collision  with  a  French  Brig-of-War,  with  Loss  of 
Life — The  Author,  chased  by  a  Bull,  takes  to  the  Water — Getting 
rid  of  an  Unpleasant  Messmate — Hamilton  G.  "  in  Trouble" — The 
South  Pass  of  the  Mississippi — A  Water-Spout 52 

CHAPTEK    VI. 

Cruising  on  the  Coast  of  Texas  after  Slavers — Colonel  David  Crockett 
— General  Sam  Houston — The  Coast  of  Texas — Keeping  the  Look- 
out— Scarcity  of  Water — Commander  Levy  gets  excited,  and  suggests 
the  Proper  Pronunciation  of  his  Name — A  Threatened  Court-Martial 
— Calling  an  Officer  a  r-  Semiquaver" — Two  Old  Stories — The  Cap- 
tain's Wooden  Horse — Want  of  Fresh  Air — The  Author  had  tendered 
his  Eesignation,  but  the  Commodore  retained  it  and  advised  against  it      62 

CHAPTEK  VII. 
A  Ball  on  a  French  Frigate — A  Boat  that  smelt  of  Fish — Disgusted 
Old  Lady — Society — Sails  for  Norfolk — Midshipman  E.  C.  Anderson 
— The  Cable  parts — Goose-Quill  Pens  and  Cockroaches — Parting 
with  Captain  Levy — Accounts  of  Lieutenants  Gist  and  Maffit,  Mid- 
shipmen Marcy  and  Barbot,  and  others  of  the  Vandalia — The  Author 
starts  for  Home  on  Three  Months'  Leave — Ordered  to  the  Sloop-of- 
WTar  Preble — Commander  Breese — Service  on  the  Coast  of  Labrador 
and  in  the  Mediterranean — The  "  Ammen  Kock" — Fogs — Sir  Colin 
Campbell  and  his  Daughter — The  McNabb — A  Bright  Yankee  Girl 
— Visit  to  a  Coast  Kesidence 72 

CHAPTEK    VIII. 

Whales  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence — Story  of  a  Sword-Fish — Sea-Fowl, 
Fish,  and  Seals — Kun  on  a  Ledge  of  Kocks — The  Bay  of  Fundy 
— Halifax — Portland — John  Savage,  alias  Hans  Wildemann — Cross- 
ing the  Atlantic,  and  Service  in  the  Mediterranean— Lisbon — The 
Carnival — Port  Mahon — The  Author  transferred  to  the  Ohio,  Com- 
modore Hull— Kear-  Admiral  Dupont— A  Sirocco— The  Andalusians 
—Gibraltar— Death  of  a  Sailor— Arrival  at  Boston— Three  Months' 
Leave— Naval  School  at  Philadelphia— David  McLure— Small-Pox 
in  the  Naval  School — Professor  Chauvenet— John  Hogan,  "  from 
the  South" 85 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTEK    IX. 

PAGE 

Coast-Survey  Duty  on  the  Delaware — Lieutenant  Charles  H.  Davis, 
commanding  the  Nautilus — Lieutenant  George  B.  Blake — The  Galla- 
tin— Ordered  to  Keceiving-Ship  Experiment,  at  Philadelphia  Navy- 
Yard — Lieutenant  Albert  E.  Downes,  of  the  Grampus — A  Proposed 
Visit  to  the  White  Mountains — Interrupted  by  a  Trio  of  Musicians 
— Ordered  as  Navigator  to  the  Lexington — Life  in  the  Wardroom — 
A  "Tartar" — Minorca— Port  Mahon — "Old  Nance" — The  Missouri 
— The  Columbus — The  Lexington  arrives  at  New  York — Lieuten- 
ants Green,  Grey,  White,  and  Black — Visits  Mississippi — Adjutant- 
General  Koger  Jones — Lieutenant  Lay — Visits  Home — Ordered  to  the 
Vincennes — Cruise  to  China  and  Japan — A  Case  of  Small-Pox — 
Dolphins — Dan  on  the  Lookout — Brazil      98 

CHAPTEK    X. 

The  Brazilians— Sail  with  the  Columbus — Accident  to  a  Brazilian  Mid- 
shipman— Tristan  d'Acunha  and  Nightingale  Islands — Sea-Birds — 
Island  of  St.  Paul — Straits  of  Sunda — Batavia  Roads — Anjier  Point 
— Turtles,  Monkeys,  Baboons,  and  Crocodiles — Malays  operating  a 
Pile-Driver— The  Banyan-Tree — A  Malay  Village — Tigers — A  Wild- 
Boar  Hunt — Water  filled  with  Animalcules — The  "  Biche  de  Mer" — 
Sea-Serpents — The  East  India  Dysentery — Straits  of  Macassar — Sea 
of  Celebes — Monkeys  and  Baboons  as  Commissaries — Hong-Kong — 
Chinese  Vessels  under  Arms — Duck-Boats — Going  to  Canton  in  a 
Sanpan — Buying  Wives — Chinese  Modes  of  Burial 113 

CHAPTEK    XL 

Arrival  at  Canton— Flower-Boats — Pigeon  English — Markets — Shops 
— Billy  Poole,  "the  Biggest  Toad  in  the  Puddle" — Chinese  Dinners 
and  Customs— Price  of  a  Wife— Dwarfing  Feet— Parsee  Merchants 
— Buffaloes— Milk  not  from  Cattle — Cholera  on  the  Columbus— The 
Grave  of  the  Portuguese  Poet  Camoens— The  Columbus  and  Vin- 
cennes sail  for  Northern  China — Amoy — Dining  with  the  Governor 
— The  Chusan  Islands — Yeddo  Bay — The  Daimio — Nagasaki — Lieu- 
tenant Mcintosh  throws  the  Poles  off  the  Bows  placed  there  by  the 
Japanese— Japanese  Artists — A  Squall— Object  of  the  Visit  of  the 
American  Vessels— Dual  Government— The  Japanese  Officials  visit 
the  Columbus  to  reply  to  the  Commodore's  Letter — A  Mishap  and  an 
Explanation — Presents  declined 128 

CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Vessels  weigh  Anchor  and  are  taken  in  tow— The  Columbus  and 
Vincennes  part,  never  to  meet  again — The  Ladrones — Apra  Harbor — 
Island  of  Guam— Flying-Fish  and  Sea-Fowl  — Pilot-Fish— Coral  and 
Cocoa-nut — No  Snakes  or  Scorpions — Description  of  the  Inhabitants 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— A  Eide  to  Agaiia — Keceived  by  the  Governor  and  invited  to  a 
Dinner — Mr.  Eobinson,  an  Old  British  Navy  Officer,  sings,  and  is  in 
Disgrace — Bread-Fruit — School-Houses — Koberts,  the  Pilot,  proposes 
to  leave  the  Island,  but  is  persuaded  to  remain — Remarks  on  the 
Island,  its  History,  Inhabitants,  etc. — Sail  for  Hong-Kong — Anchor 
in  Blenheim  Eeach — Sail  for  Baja  Bassa  in  Sumatra — A  Fishing 
Town — Curiosity  of  the  Inhabitants — Description  of  the  Island  and 
People— Cape  Town — Leaving  Cape  Town  the  Writer  has  a  "  Wind- 
fall"— Arrive  at  the  Navy- Yard — General  Hamer — Leave  of  Ab- 
sence— Calls  on  the  President — Mr.  Mason,  Secretary  of  the  Navy — 
An  Appointment  in  the  Navy  for  General  Hamer's  Son — Ordered  on 
Coast  Survey  Duty 141 

CHAPTEE    XIII. 

Duty  on  the  Coast  Survey  near  Nantucket  in  the  Spring  of  1848 — 
Ordered  to  the  Surveying-Steamer  Bibb — Professors  Agassiz  and 
Desor — The  Discovery  of  the  First  Viviparous  Scale-Fish — Some 
Eemarks  on  Nantucket  and  Adjacent  Country — Mother  Carey's 
Whale-Ships — A  Lady  in  Green  Spectacles  has  her  say  about  a 
Man  drowned — Eockport,  Massachusetts — The  White  Eock,  alias 
the  Ammen  Eock — Engaged  on  the  Nautical  Almanac— A  Meeting 
with  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis— A  Visit  to  Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams 
—A  Practical  Joke— John  Y.  Mason— California  Gold  Excitement 
— Wars  in  Europe 161 

CHAPTEE    XIV. 

Voyage  to  London,  and  Travels  on  the  Continent — The  German  Lan- 
guage—Arrive in  London— The  Custom-Officer— Eambles  in  London 
— Sail  for  Antwerp — Captain  Fitzgerald,  of  the  British  Navy — Aix- 
la-Chapelle — Charlemagne — Frederick  Barbarossa — The  Cathedral  of 
Cologne— Brunswick — Lessons  in  German — Eheumatism — A  State 
Dinner  at  the  Duke  of  Brunswick's— Visit  to  Captain  Gese vault 
— A  Game  of  Chess — Baron  Eudolphi — A  Christening — Baron  Hum- 
boldt's Theory  of  the  Spread  of  Yellow  Fever— Visit  Berlin— Call 
on  Mr.  Hannegan,  the  American  Minister — Leipsic  and  Munich — 
Ex-King  Ludwig  and  Queen — Duchess  of  Mecklenburg — Trip  in  a 
Diligence — Genoa — Milan — Pisa 173 

CHAPTEE    XV. 

Florence— The  Flower-Girl— The  American  Colonel— Captain  Neu- 
hauser— Spezia — Vesuvius — Herculaneum  and  Pompeii — Naples — 
The  Temple  of  Neptune  at  Pesto— Temple  of  Ceres 192 

CHAPTEE    XVI. 

Service  on  Board  the  Frigate  St.  Lawrence— Messina— Mount  Etna— 
Eobbers— Burial- Vaults  of  the   Capuchins— Santa   Eosalia— Eemit- 


CONTENTS.  xj 

PAGE 

tent  Fever  at  Palermo— The  British  Squadron— A  Lieutenant  Court- 
martialled  for  Kissing— Kailroad  Travel  at  a  Penny  a  Mile— B.'s 
Little  Joke  —  Bremerhaven  —  A  Country  Fair  —  Bremen— Sail  for 
Home 208 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Pay  a  Visit  to  Ohio— Details  of  the  Trip— Throckmorton — A  Belle  at 
Louisville — Chattanooga — Lookout  Mountain — Kenesaw  Mountain 
—Marietta— Atlanta— Macon— Coast-Survey  Service  on  the  Southern 
Coast— Savannah— Captain  Maffit— Lieutenant  Anderson— Some  Re- 
flections on  Slavery— Mr.  Legare — A  South  Carolina  Secessionist- 
Special  Service  in  California— Site  for  a  Navy- Yard  at  San  Fran- 
cisco—Senator Gwin 216 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

From  New  York  to  Havana— Lieutenant  David  D.  Porter— Count 
Medem  —  Aspinwall  —  Panama  —  Acapulco  —  Santa  Barbara  —  San 
Pedro — Lieutenant  Alden — San  Francisco — Vallejo — Foster's  Bar — 
Fleas — The  Sierra  Nevada — Mr.  Maccarty — Start  back  on  Foot — 
Perils  of  the  Road— Get  a  Ride  for  a  Dollar— Rats— Arrive  at  San 
Francisco— Return  Voyage— Details  of  the  Trip— New  York  to  Bal- 
timore—Charles Carroll's  Library — Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry — 
Secretary  Kennedy— Join  my  Vessel  at  Norfolk  —  Georgetown- 
Cayenne— Maranham — The  Amazon 229 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

Pernambuco  —  Rio  Janeiro  —  Montevideo  —  Fever  on  Shipboard  —  A 
Pampero— The  Frigates  Congress  and  Jamestown — General  Urquiza 
besieging  Buenos  Ayres— Ostriches— The  Rio  de  la  Plata— The  River 
Parana— Point  Diamante— Capturing  a  Buck— The  Jaguar— The 
River  Paraguay — Remarks  on  the  Country  and  People — Lopez  gives 
the  Naval  Officers  a  Reception— The  Water- Witch— Assumption- 
San  Pedro — A  Grand  Ball— The  President  and  his  Family— Customs 
of  the  People — A  Visit  to  the  Indians — Securing  Specimens  of  Ani- 
mals—Excursion to  Villa  Rica— A  Tiger-Hunter  — Expedition  of 
Commodore  Shubrick 249 

CHAPTER    XX. 

Service  on  Board  the  Brig  Bainbridge— A  Shooting-Expedition— The 
Captain  of  the  Bainbridge — A  Second  Shooting-Expedition — The 
Captain  in  his  Cups — Proposes  the  Capture  of  the  Governor  of  the 
Falkland  Islands— The  Water-Witch  fired  on  from  a  Paraguayan 
Fort — Sail  from  Montevideo— Paranagua— Arrival  at  Rio— Visit  to 
Count  Medem  at  Petropolis— The  Captain's  Idiosyncrasies— A  Spirit- 
ualist—Barbadoes— Arrival  in  the  United  States— Some  Retrospec- 
tions  269 


xil  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

PAGE 

Ordered  to  Duty  at  the  Naval  Observatory,  Washington,  under  Com- 
mander M.  F.  Maury — Observations  on  Commander  Maury  and 
other  Officers  on  Duty — "  Duke"  Gwinn — Jefferson  Davis — Service 
on  Board  the  Saranac,  on  a  Voyage  to  the  Pacific — An  Account  of 
the  Voyage  from  Philadelphia — Incidents  of  the  Voyage,  and  Men- 
tion of  the  Different  Points  touched— Service  on  Board  the  Merrimac 
— Sail  for  Tumbez — Payta — San  Lorenzo — Callao — Randolph  Clay, 
Minister  to  Peru — Mummies — Gathering  Skulls — Ancient  Temples   .    290 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

Sandwich  Islands — Acapulco — Leon — Realejo — Nicaragua — A  Tropical 
Forest — Mr.  Lamar,  United  States  Minister — General  Tomas  Mar- 
tinez— Native  Rum — A  Trip  to  the  Country — The  Solteras — Ham- 
mocks— A  Shooting-Excursion — Alligators — Mr.  Lamar's  Archives 
— Visit  from  the  President — The  "Wardroom  Steward  and  the  Black 
Dog — The  Decatur,  Vandalia,  and  Saranac — The  British  Minister — 
Panama — Valparaiso — Reach  Norfolk 313 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

Changes  in  Norfolk — Meet  Mr.  E.  C.  Anderson  in  Washington,  and 
Visit  Senators  Toombs  and  Jefferson  Davis — Service  at  the  Naval 
Rendezvous  in  Baltimore — Condition  of  the  Slaves  in  Maryland — 
Talk  of  Secession — Mr.  Porcher — Remarks  on  the  Beginning  of  the 
Civil  War— Hon.  A.  H.  Stephens— Peeling  of  Naval  Officers— Mrs. 
Mactavish — Mr.  Anderson  discusses  the  Prospects  of  Secession  and 
War — Lieutenant  Powell — Visit  to  Columbus — Governor  Chase — 
Discuss  the  Organization  of  Ohio  Troops — Letter  from  Mr.  Chase     .    326 

CHAPTER    XXIV 

Beginning  of  the  Civil  War — The  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  jeered 
at  and  stoned — Secession — Excitement  in  Baltimore — To  Washington 
on  Horseback — Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy — Bladensburg — Black  Horse 
Cavalry — Commodore  Stringham — On  Duty  as  Executive  Officer  at 
the  Navy-Yard — An  Ohio  Belle — Aspire  to  the  Command  of  a  Gun- 
Boat — Lieutenant  Nelson,  of  the  Navy,  appointed  Brigadier-General 
of  Volunteers — His  Influence  in  Kentucky — Colonel  Jacob  Ammen, 
commanding  Brigade,  reports  to  General  Nelson — Ammen 's  March 
to  Savannah,  Tennessee — Goes  in  Advance,  and  his  Command  the 
First  of  Buell's  Army  to  engage  in  the  Battle  of  Shiloh — The  Killing 
of  General  Nelson  by  General  Jefferson  C.  Davis — General  Rosecrans 
tells  a  Story  of  General  Ammen — President  Lincoln,  accompanied  by 
Thurlow  Weed,  visits  the  Navy- Yard— Hand-Shaking  by  the  Presi- 
dent— Ordered  to  the  Roanoke — A  Wrathy  Captain 334 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTEK    XXV. 

PAGE 

Service  on  Board  the  Koanoke  as  Executive  Officer— Captain  W.  C. 
Nicholson  —  Hampton  Koads  —  Commodore  Pendergrast  —  Blockade 
Duty  off  Charleston— The  Yandalia— The  Seminole— Return  of  the 
Roanoke  to  Hampton  Roads — Assigned  to  the  Seneca — Naval  Life  as 
an  Officer  in  Command  of  a  Vessel— Admiral  S.  F.  Dupont— Sail  for 
Hampton  Roads— General  T.  W.  Sherman— Port  Royal— Charleston 
— An  Engagement  with  Steamboats— Commodore  Tatnall— General 
Horatio  G.  Wright — Captain  John  Rodgers — General  Drayton — A 
Naval  Engagement— The  Confederates  abandon  the  Port  at  Port 
Royal — General  Sherman — Admiral  Dupont  issues  a  Proclamation — 
North  Edisto  — Burning  Cotton— Rockville— Shelling  Port  Royal 
Ferry— The  Black  Colony  at  North  Edisto— Demonstration  against 
Savannah— Hilton  Head— General  R.  E.  Lee 343 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Pass  through  Cumberland  Sound— Take  Possession  of  St.  Augustine- 
Occupation  of  Jacksonville— White  Flags— George  Huston  kills 
Lieutenant  Sproston,  and  is  himself  killed — Neils  Jonson — A  Des- 
perate Man— A  Present  of  a  Bear— Sounding  Depth  of  Water  at 
Charleston — Ossabaw  Sound — In  Command  of  the  Sebago— Henry 
M.  Blue— The  Water-Witch— Relieved  from  Command  of  the  Sebago 
— Assigned  to  the  Monitor  Patapsco  at  Wilmington — An  Engage- 
ment— On  Sick-Leave — Fort  Sumter — Attack  on  Forts  Moultrie  and 
Beauregard— A  Scout— A  Council  of  War— Opinions  in  regard  to  the 
Monitors 362 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Sent  North  by  the  Admiral — Rumors  of  relieving  Admiral  Dahlgren 
of  his  Command — Report  of  Officers  under  Admiral  Dahlgren  to  the 
Navy  Department — Courts-Martial  and  Courts  of  Inquiry — Ordered 
to  Temporary  Command  of  the  Shenandoah — She  goes  to  Philadel- 
phia to  be  put  out  of  Commission — Lieutenant-General  Grant  visits 
Rear-Admiral  Lee,  on  the  Minnesota,  at  Hampton  Roads — Leaves 
an  Invitation  for  Commander  Ammen  to  visit  him  at  Culpeper — 
Letter  from  General  Grant— Visit  Mrs.  Grant— Visit  General  Grant 
at  Culpeper— Details  of  Visit— Talk  of  Boyhood  Days— Ride  over 
the  Country— General  Grant's  Opinion  of  Generals  Lee,  Joseph  E. 
Johnston,  and  Bragg — Present  of  a  Meerschaum  Pipe — Return  to 
Baltimore 378 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

In  Charge  of  a  Draft  of  Men  on  board  the  Ocean  Queen — Boatswain 
Bell  reports  for  Duty  with  Two  Hundred  and  Twenty  Men— The 
Steamer  gets  under  Way— At  Midnight  the  Commander  is  sent  for 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

by  some  of  the  Men — They  complain  of  having  to  sleep  on  Deck — 
Assault  upon  the  Captain  and  Chief  Engineer — Statement  of  Com- 
mander Ammen — Justice  Field,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
a  Passenger — Desertions  at  Aspinwall — Eeturn  in  the  Ocean  Queen 
to  New  York  from  Panama,  and  make  a  Full  Keport  to  the  Navy 
Department — Remarks  on  the  Mutiny — The  Court-Martial — Courts- 
Martial  organized,  one  to  acquit  and  one  to  condemn — Decline  to 
employ  Counsel — Letter  from  General  Grant — In  command  of  the 
Mohican — A  Clerk — A  Swiss  Steward  who  receives  more  Pay  than 
the  Commanding  Officer 386 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

At  City  Point — Meet  General  Grant — The  General's  Horse  Cincinnati 
— Return  to  Hampton  Roads  —  Beaufort  —  Bombardment  of  Port 
Fisher — General  Butler — Re-embark  for  Fortress  Monroe — General 
Terry  reaches  Beaufort  ready  to  co-operate  with  the  Navy — Generals 
Terry  and  Comstock  visit  the  Commander — Dressing  the  Ship  with 
Green — The  Mohican  anchors  at  Port  Royal — Message  from  Admiral 
Porter  to  General  Sherman — News  of  the  Capture  of  Wilmington — 
Return  to  Savannah — Call  on  Mrs.  Anderson  before  leaving  Savan- 
nah— Hardee  escapes  with  his  Army — Letter  from  Mr.  Anderson — 
The  Ogeechee — Hampton  Roads — Washington  Navy-Yard — Boston 
— Surrender  of  Lee's  Army      401 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

In  Command  of  the  Miantonomah — Description  of  the  Vessel — She  is 
sent  abroad — The  Author  detached — Consult  with  General  Grant  as  to 
the  Practicability  of  a  Ship-Canal  across  the  Isthmus — Proposed 
Visit  to  Secretary  Seward — Discuss  the  Ship-Canal — Acquisition  of 
Alaska — Visit  to  Francis  P.  Blair — An  Unruly  Horse — General 
Grant  tells  a  Story  of  being  thrown  by  a  Colt,  when  a  Boy — Visit  to 
the  United  States  of  Admiral  Tegethoff,  of  the  Austrian  Navy — The 
French  in  Mexico — General  Grant  "swinging  around  the  Circle" 
with  President  Johnson  and  Admiral  Farragut — Am  appointed  on  a 
Board  to  examine  Volunteer  Officers  of  the  Navy — General  Grant  as 
Secretary  of  War — He  discourses  of  President  Johnson — Governor 
Swann,  of  Maryland — Am  ordered  in  Command  of  the  Flag-Ship 
Piscataqua 420 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

In  Command  of  the  Flag-Ship  Piscataqua — Objectionable  Smoke- 
stacks— Sail  for  New  York,  and  go  into  Dock — Proceed  to  Wash- 
ington— Meet  General  Grant — An  Unsatisfactory  State  of  Affairs — 
President  Johnson  and  General  Grant — General  Grant  speaks  of  the 
Ship-Canal — A  Drunken  Hospital  Steward — Desertions — Rio  Janeiro 
— Mr.  James  Watson  Webb,  U.S.  Minister — Consul  Monroe — Visit 


CONTENTS.  xv 

PAGE 

to  Corcovado — Simon's  Bay — Description  of  the  Country  and  City — 
Meet  an  Old  Acquaintance,  and  commit  a  Faux  Pas — Singapore — A 
Buddhist — The  Eleventh  Commandment — A  Prodigal  Son  treated  in 
a  New  Way — Manila — Lightning  without  Thunder — Cholera    .    .    .    430 

CHAPTEK    XXXII. 

Arrival  at  Hong-Kong — Changes  in  Twenty-One  Years  —  Amoy — 
Nagasaki— Description  of  the  City — Measure  Height  of  Island — 
Yokohama — A  Biting  Stallion — Tattooing — Take  Admiral  Rowan 
on  the  Piscataqua  to  visit  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg,  the  American  Min- 
ister— Description  of  the  Capital  City — A  Visit  from  Admiral  Enno- 
motto,  of  the  Japanese  Navy — Something  of  the  Admiral's  Subse- 
quent History  —  Yokohama  —  Hiogo — Admiral  C.  H.  Bell  —  Mr. 
Consul  Mangum  —  A  Doubtful  Compliment  as  to  One's  Age — 
Nagasaki  —  Shanghai  —  The  Foreign  Merchants — Dining  with  the 
Governor  of  the  Province — Description  of  the  Dinner 442 

CHAPTEK    XXXIII. 

Sail  for  Amoy — The  Admiral's  Cabin-Ports  stove  in — General  Legen- 
dre — Malodorous  Amoy — Bengal  Tigers — Visit  to  a  Spanish  Catholic 
Missionary — Keturn  to  Hong-Kong — Leave  in  the  Steamer  Great 
Kepublic  for  the  United  States — Yokohama — Measuring  the  Height 
of  Fusi-yama — Arrive  at  San  Francisco — Great  Changes  noted  in  San 
Francisco — Dr.  A.  J.  Bowie — Arrive  at  Washington,  and  am  assigned 
to  Duty  as  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks — Assigned  to 
Duty  as  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Navigation — Admiral  Porter — The 
Isthmian  Surveys  assigned  to  me — A  Commission  appointed,  General 
A.  A.  Humphreys  President,  Professor  Peirce,  and,  later,  Captain 
C.  P.  Patterson — Colonel  Hopkins  calls,  at  the  Bequest  of  Cyrus  W. 
Field,  in  Begard  to  Deep-Sea  Soundings  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  ....    456 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

Commodore  Wyman  —  Determining  Longitudes  by  Telegraphy — 
Method  of  Signalling  —  Lieutenants  Very  and  Wood— Coast  De- 
fence—Calculations of  Weights  and  Displacements — Ram  designed 
by  the  Author— Delayed  on  Political  Grounds — "  It  will  come  by 
and  by"— Admiral  Tegethoff— The  Battle  of  Lissa— Ironclads— Ad- 
vantages of  Rams  over  Armored  Ships 467 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

The  Nicaragua  Canal — Report  of  the  Commission — President  Hayes 
approves  in  his  Message— M.  de  Lesseps  desires  a  Convocation  of 
Engineers  and  Representatives  from  All  Countries  to  meet  in  Paris 
and  discuss  the  Isthmian  Canal  Question — President  Hayes  requests 
the  Author  to  go  as  Representative  from  the  United  States — I  pre- 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

pare  in  Writing  what  I  propose  to  say — The  Secretary  of  State  ap- 
proves it — Mr.  Menocal  goes  with  me — General  Grant  consents  to 
place  himself  at  the  Head  of  a  Movement  to  construct  the  Canal — 
He  is  prevented  from  Action  by  Various  Considerations — A  Conces- 
sion from  the  Nicaraguan  Government — The  Eads  Ship-Eailway — 
History  of  Progress  in  obtaining  a  Charter  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 
with  an  Account  of  the  Obstructions,  both  Open  and  Covert — The 
Matter  mentioned  to  President  Cleveland  and  General  McClellan — 
The  Ship-Kailway — General  Kemarks  on  an  Isthmian  Canal  ....    474 

CHAPTER    XXXYI. 

Desultory  Observations  on  Men  and  Things — Choose  a  Country-House 
— Benefits  of  Horseback-Riding  and  Exercise — Francis  P.  Blair — 
George  Bancroft — Observations  on  the  City  of  Washington — Its  Great 
Improvement,  Advantages  in  Climate,  Health,  Location,  etc. — The 
City  Government — "  Boss"  Shepherd — Ex-Governor  Dennison — The 
Presidential  Receptions — A  Present  of  a  Carriage  from  General  Grant 
— Frequent  Visits  to  him — The  Ferry  Story — Scurrilous  Newspapers 
— Senator  Conkling — The  Cause  of  his  Death — Mr.  Colfax — General 
Beauregard — General  Grant's  Annoyances — Appointments  in  Louisi- 
ana— The  Treaty  with  Santo  Domingo — Fred  Douglass — Race  Preju- 
dices not  entertained  by  Naval  Men — Senator  Sumner  and  his  Course 
on  the  Santo  Domingo  Matter 499 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

President  Grant  mentions  the  Advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  An- 
nexation of  Santo  Domingo — The  Marked  Features  of  General 
Grant's  Individuality — The  Craze  to  be  President — A  Quotation  re- 
lating to  the  Death  of  Charles  the  Fifth  of  France — The  Epizooty — 
Chlorate  of  Potash  as  a  Remedy — General  Sherman's  Criticism  on  a 
Road — Commodore  Guest — A  Rattlesnake — Surgeon-General  Wood 
bitten  by  a  Snake — How  he  was  cured — Attend  the  Reunion  of  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland  at  Columbus,  Ohio — Meet  General  Sheridan 
for  the  First  Time — Meet  General,  afterwards  President,  Hayes — A 
Visit  to  the  Institution  for  Mutes — The  Fate  of  General  Grant's 
Horse,  Cincinnati — Nicaraguan  Ministers  to  the  United  States — Don 
Emilio  Benard — Don  Max  Sonnestern — Hon.  Alex.  H.  Stephens — 
Dining  with  Mr.  George  W.  Childs — General  Grant  advised  to  get 
some  "  Lawyers"  when  he  should  reach  the  Island  of  Penang — Out- 
come of  this  Advice — A  visit  to  Ohio  with  General  Grant — General 
Grant's  Trip  abroad — The  Author  becomes  a  Rear- Admiral  and  is 
retired— Endeavor  to  promote  the  Construction  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal — Kindly  Feelings  between  Comrades  of  the  Old  Army — The 
Motives  of  Actors  in  the  Civil  War  to  be  considered,  not  the  Objects 
— Closing  Remarks 509 

Appendix  ....       527 


THE 

OLD  NAYY  AND  THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Entry  into  the  Navy  as  Midshipman,  and  Service  afloat  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
— Father  of  the  Author  in  the  War  of  1812-15— He  moves  from  Virginia 
to  Ohio — Early  Kecollections — Neighbor  and  Companion  of  General  Grant 
—The  Author  rescues  Young  Grant  from  drowning — Letter  from  General 
Grant  in  1877  referring  to  the  Incident — The  Great  Mood  in  the  Ohio  in 
1832 — Concludes  to  enter  the  United  States  Navy — Appointed  Midshipman 
— Trip  to  Washington  and  Baltimore— Sketch  of  Hon.  Thomas  L.  Hamer. 

During  the  War  of  1812-15  with  Great  Britain,  my  father 
served  in  the  army  on  our  northwestern  frontier,  which  was  then 
in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Erie.  After  the  conclusion  of  peace  my 
mother,  with  her  three  children,  two  boys  and  one  girl,  were 
brought  from  Virginia  to  Highland  County,  Ohio,  where  an 
uncle  had  located  some  ten  years  previously.  He  migrated  from 
Botetourt  County,  Virginia,  and  owned  a  considerable  tract  of 
land.  In  a  year  or  two  my  father  removed  to  Brown,  an  adjoin- 
ing county,  where  I  was  born. 

My  earliest  recollections  are  of  the  steep  hills  bordering  the 
Ohio  River,  and  of  the  ravines,  and  the  streams  that  had  worn 
their  way  through  the  limestone  ledges,  leaving  precipitous  banks 
of  earth,  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  sugar-maple,  walnut, 
and  ash.  The  immediate  borders  of  the  larger  streams  were 
lined  with  immense  sycamores,  and  the  flat  lands  on  the  summit, 
extending  into  the  interior,  with  superb  beech-,  hickory-,  and 
walnut-trees.    These  forests  were  then  almost  continuous,  passing 

15 


1(3      :•'  i  /  .l  ' ,   THE  QX<D^  NA  VY  AND    THE  NEW. 

into  the  back  country.  Usually  at  intervals  of  a  mile  or  two  a 
log  house  would  be  seen  in  the  midst  of  a  "  clearing/'  consisting 
of  ten  or  more  acres  of  dead  trees,  which  had  been  girdled  by  the 
axe  and  had  lost  most  of  their  limbs,  through  decay  or  through 
fire  which  had  been  applied  to  them  after  they  had  become  suf- 
ficiently dry  to  burn.  The  lands  were  planted  in  maize,  called 
by  the  inhabitants  "  corn,"  by  which  name  it  is  known  now 
throughout  the  United  States. 

From  the  age  of  seven  or  eight  years  I  was  a  near  neighbor 
of  the  late  General  Grant,  who  was  two  years  younger  than  my- 
self. We  were  constant  playmates,  and  in  the  habit  of  fishing, 
swimming,  and  riding  together.  Our  outfit  in  riding  was  quite 
simple,  consisting  only  of  a  bridle,  and  we  were  either  mounted 
on  the  bare  back  or  rode  with  a  blanket  strapped  on  the  horse. 

We  were  so  young  then  that  when  the  streams  were  swollen 
we  thought  that  the  fish  would  be  the  more  plentiful.  A  small 
stream  greatly  swollen  one  day  invited  our  attention.  A  large 
poplar  log  that  had  lodged  on  the  bank,  and  at  an  incline  ex- 
tended partly  over  the  water,  seemed  to  offer  to  my  young  com- 
panion a  favorable  seat  from  which  to  throw  his  line.  Persons 
who  have  tried  to  walk  on  a  poplar  log  after  a  rain  have  doubt- 
less found  a  very  slippery  footing,  as  was  the  case  with  Grant. 
In  a  moment  his  heels  were  in  the  air  and  he  plunged  head 
downward  into  the  rapidly-flowing  muddy  water.  I  had  but  a 
moment  for  thought,  and  rushed  down  the  stream  for  a  few  yards, 
to  where  it  narrowed  considerably,  and  willows  that  had  been 
undermined  by  the  stream  hung  barely  over  the  surface  of  the 
water.  With  the  celerity  of  an  active  boy  nine  years  of  age,  I 
ran  out  on  one  of  these  trees,  and,  as  good  luck  would  have  it, 
when  my  companion  came  within  reach,  he  was  above  the  sur- 
face ;  I  grabbed  him  and  drew  him  out  of  the  water.  He  was 
clothed  at  the  time  in  an  upper  garment  that  was  my  admiration, 
buttoning  on  a  nether  one.  It  was  of  Marseilles,  with  gorgeous 
red  stripes ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  this  dress  must  be  irre- 
trievably ruined  from  its  drenching  in  muddy  water,  and  perhaps 
this  fact  impressed  the  circumstance  on  my  mind.  Half  a  cen- 
tury after,  General  Grant  mentions  this  occurrence  in  a  letter,  as 
follows  : 


THE   GREAT  FLOOD   IN  THE   OHIO  IN  1822.  17 

H&tel  de  France,  Nice,  December  10, 1877. 

My  dear  Admiral, — On  Thursday  afternoon  we  go  aboard  the  Vandalia 
to  make  our  excursion  of  the  Mediterranean.  How  much  I  wish  you  were 
in  command  to  unfurl,  for  the  first  time,  your  Admiral's  flag  1  We  break- 
fasted the  other  day  with  Admiral  Le  Roy,  and  saw  all  of  the  officers  then 
in  port  here.  They  seem  to  be  a  nice  set  of  youngsters.  They  were  not 
all  at  the  breakfast,  of  course,  but  they  came  on  board  of  the  flag-ship, 
and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  them.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  you  to 
hear  how  they  all  spoke  of  you.  There  was  quite  an  expression  of 
opinion  among  them,  placing  you  in  the  highest  place  in  the  profession. 
Of  course  I  told  them  that  I  owed  you  an  old  grudge  as  being  responsible 
for  the  many  trials  and  difficulties  I  had  passed  through  in  the  last  half  a 
century  ;  for  nearly  that  length  of  time  ago  you  rescued  me  from  a  watery 
grave.  I  am  of  a  forgiving  nature,  however,  and  forgive  you, — but  is  the 
feeling  universal?  If  the  Democrats  get  into  full  power,  may  they  not 
hold  you  responsible  ?  But,  as  you  are  about  retiring,  I  hope  no  harm  will 
come  to  you  for  any  act  of  kindness  done  to  me. 

Our  trip  thus  far  has  been  most  agreeable.  The  weather  in  Paris  was 
most  atrocious,  but  I  got  to  see  most  of  the  people.  My  opinion  of  their 
capacity  for  self-government  has  materially  changed  since  seeing  for  my- 
self. Before  coming  here  I  did  not  believe  the  French  people  capable  of 
self-government.  Now  I  believe  them  perfectly  capable,  and  they  will  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less.  They  are  patient  "  and  of  long  suffering," 
but  there  will  not  be  entire  peace  and  quiet  until  a  form  of  government  is 
established  in  which  all  the  people  have  a  full  voice.  It  will  be  more  re- 
publican than  anything  they  have  yet  had  under  the  name  of  a  republic. 

Give  all  our  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  all  the  children  ;  write  to  me  often, 

and  don't  be  disappointed  if  I  do  not  answer  each  of  your  letters  as 

received. 

Yours  faithfully, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Nearly  two  years  after  our  fishing  excursion,  in  February, 
1832,  there  was  the  greatest  flood  known  in  the  Ohio  River  up 
to  that  time.  At  Cincinnati  it  amounted  to  a  rise  of  fifty-two 
feet.  Several  floods  of  greater  depths  have  since  occurred,  the 
increase  doubtless  due  to  the  denudation  of  the  neighboring  hills 
of  the  forests,  and  the  change  from  timber  lands  to  cultivated 
fields  facilitating  the  escape  of  rainfalls  through  a  more  rapid 
surface-drainage.  One  Sunday  morning  a  slow,  steady  rain  was 
falling,  that  continued  throughout  the  day,  notwithstanding  our 
prognostications  that  it  would  cease.  Two  other  boys  and 
myself  concluded  that  it  would  be  more  interesting  to  see  the 

2 


18  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

swollen  river,  some  six  miles  distant,  than  to  go  to  church, 
which  we  could  do  on  any  Sunday,  while  the  great  flood  if  not 
seen  then  might  never  be  seen .  The  mud  was  deep,  and  pud- 
dles were  everywhere,  although  we  skirted  the  roads,  and  indeed 
walked  in  the  bordering  woods,  which  had  little  undergrowth. 
On  reaching  the  hill-top,  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above 
the  river,  we  saw  from  the  bluff,  looking  up  and  down  the  river 
through  the  openings  between  the  limbs  and  bodies  of  the  trees, 
a  large  extent  of  muddy  water,  shut  out  from  the  view  in  the 
distance  by  the  bends  of  the  high  lands.  We  went  down  the 
steep  hill,  and  at  its  base  saw  a  volume  of  muddy,  yellow  water 
flowing  sluggishly  between  the  trees,  the  surface  reaching  the 
limbs  of  many  of  them  at  a  height  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet 
from  the  ground.  The  usual  bank  of  the  river  was,  in  a  direct 
line,  quite  half  a  mile  from  where  we  stood,  and  all  that  could  be 
seen  was  a  small  extent  of  sluggish  water  extending  from  the 
river-bed  to  the  foot  of  the  hills.  Clambering  up  the  hill  again, 
one,  or  perhaps  both,  of  my  companions  climbed  a  tree,  to  get  a 
less  obstructed  view  than  could  be  had  from  the  ground ;  but 
the  tree  was  too  large  for  me,  and  I  had  to  content  myself  with 
listening  to  the  expressions  of  wonder  and  delight  such  as  boys 
pour  forth  on  grand  occasions.  As  soon  as  vision  was  satisfied 
we  set  out  to  return,  "  as  wet  as  rats/'  and  reached  home  about 
dusk.  This  impromptu  walk  did  not  meet  with  the  approval 
of  my  mother,  but,  appreciating  what  was  best  to  be  done  to 
avoid  the  consequences,  I  was  rubbed  down  and,  after  some 
simple  treatment,  put  to  bed,  without  any  bad  results.  One  of 
my  companions  died  :  I  have  the  idea  that  his  name  was  Young, 
but  have  forgotten  the  name  of  the  other.  I  had  just  donned 
a  new  fur  hat,  made  by  the  village  hatter ;  it  was  of  a  pale-yellow 
color.  It  seemed  to  me  that  it  weighed  several  pounds,  but  it 
kept  my  head  dry  during  the  day.  A  modern  silk  hat  would 
have  melted  away  in  the  first  half-hour  of  our  march. 

At  that  period  of  my  life,  like  most  boys,  I  indulged  in 
foisting  myself  on  my  father's  knee,  and  asking  him  to  re- 
count, again  and  again,  what  he  had  seen  of  the  Peaks  of 
Otter  and  other  features  that  belonged  to  the  mountain  region 
of  Virginia.     When  a  boy  he  had  walked  to  the  summit  of 


APPOINTED   MIDSHIPMAN.  19 

these  magnificent  peaks,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles  from  his 
home,  and  had  the  idea  that  the  cliffs  facing  to  the  southeast 
were  so  abrupt  that  stones  thrown  by  hand  would  fall  into  Otter 
Creek,  more  than  a  thousand  feet  below.  He  was  enthusiastic 
in  his  description  of  mountains  and  mountain-streams,  and,  in 
reply  to  my  question  why  he  had  left  so  charming  a  country  to 
migrate  to  Ohio,  he  said  that  he  could  not  afford  to  bring  up  his 
children  under  the  disadvantages  of  slave  labor.  A  few  years 
later,  when  alone  with  me,  he  said  that  he  felt  a  great  deal  of 
concern  in  relation  to  my  future :  it  was  time,  he  thought,  for 
me  to  turn  my  attention  to  choosing  some  means  of  livelihood  ; 
he  had  to  regret  that  he  had  little  to  leave  to  his  children  •  if  I 
would  make  up  my  mind  as  to  any  calling  or  profession,  he 
would  endeavor  to  have  me  fitted  for  it.  I  told  him  not  to  give 
himself  any  uneasiness  about  me ;  I  had  already  made  up  my 
mind  to  go  to  sea  as  midshipman.  He  looked  somewhat  sur- 
prised and  disturbed,  and  said  that  he  had  been  to  sea  sufficiently 
to  know  that  it  was  a  dog's  life ;  he  considered  a  man-of-war 
"  simply  a  hell  upon  earth,"  and  I  had  better  reconsider  my 
intention.  I  answered  that  I  had  to  live  the  life,  not  he; 
I  did  not  anticipate  that  it  would  be  an  easy  one,  and  yet  I 
would  choose  it ;  and  that  he  need  not  trouble  himself  further 
about  me. 

Before  I  had  reached  sixteen  years  of  age  I  requested  a 
brother,  ten  years  my  senior,  to  write  to  our  member  of  Congress 
and  ask  him  to  get  me  an  appointment  as  midshipman,  which 
he  did  without  delay.  I  was  the  first  person  entering  the  navy 
from  that  county.  My  appointment  is  dated  July  7,  1836.  It 
was  with  sadness  that  my  mother  saw  me  leave,  on  the  20th  day 
of  the  following  November,  under  the  personal  care  of  our  Con- 
gressman, Thomas  L.  Hamer,  who  deserves  more  than  the  pass- 
ing notice  I  can  give.  He  was  below  medium  size,  and  had 
sandy  hair  and  large,  light-gray  eyes.  There  was  nothing 
marked  in  his  ordinary  appearance,  but  when  he  had  anything 
to  say  he  was  wholly  changed ;  he  had  a  wonderful  popularity 
with  all  who  knew  him.  His  information,  not  only  as  a  lawyer 
but  also  in  most  other  matters,  was  exact.  He  possessed  great 
geniality  and  exquisite  humor. 


20  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Iii  a  rough  carriage  we  left  his  house  in  Georgetown  for 
Ripley  on  the  Ohio  River,  at  which  point  we  took  the  steam- 
packet  plying  between  Cincinnati  and  Wheeling.  After  going 
on  board,  I  found  that,  by  agreement,  Hamer  had  met  half  a 
dozen  or  more  personal  friends,  also  on  their  way  to  Washington. 
The  season  must  have  been  unusually  severe,  for  the  ground  was 
covered  with  snow.  We  got  on  board  some  time  after  dark, 
and  the  wheels  pounded  the  ice  heavily  all  night.  We  were 
two  days  reaching  Wheeling,  and  thence  took  a  stage-coach  for 
Washington.  All  of  the  occupants  but  myself  were  members 
of  Congress.  The  cold  in  the  mountains  seemed  to  me  intense. 
My  friend  had  provided  me  with  what  was  then  known  as  a 
Mackinaw  blanket,  green  in  color  with  black  stripes  at  the  ends, 
and  shoes  made  of  buffalo-skin  with  the  hair  inside.  The 
horses  were  changed  every  ten  or  twelve  miles,  and  this  distance 
was  made  in  an  average  time  of  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  in- 
cluding the  delays,  although  we  were  travelling  on  the  great 
national  turnpike,  many  parts  of  which  were  quite  rough. 

The  country  taverns  at  which  the  horses  were  changed  had 
spacious  bar-rooms;  in  these  we  found  roaring  wood-fires  in 
open  fireplaces,  which  were  kept  up  all  night,  or  at  least 
when  the  stages  were  due.  Everybody  got  out  to  "take  a 
drink ;"  this  was  invariably  whiskey,  and  I  think  was  never 
omitted,  whatever  the  hour.  My  friend  Hamer  asked  me,  one 
cold  night,  if  I  would  have  some ;  I  told  him  I  thought  I  was 
rather  too  young ;  he  said  he  thought  so  too,  but  did  not  like  to 
pass  me  by  without  invitation,  although  he  was  glad  that  I  de- 
clined. When  we  dined  or  breakfasted  at  the  taverns,  the  people 
about  the  household  flocked  in,  especially  the  girls,  and  compli- 
ments as  to  their  fine  appearance  and  agreeableness  were  in  order 
from  all  the  travellers.  Everybody  was  merry ;  the  Congress- 
men did  not  fail  to  have  their  jokes  as  we  passed  along,  which 
helped  us  to  endure  the  discomfort  of  those  three  days,  cooped 
up  in  a  crowded  stage-coach.  At  last,  to  my  great  relief,  we 
reached  Brown's  Hotel,  in  Washington,  where  we  and  most  of 
the  other  passengers  took  lodgings. 

Mr.  Hamer  was  a  personal  friend  of  President  Jackson,  and 
the  following  morning  at  an  early  hour  went  to  see  him.     The 


SKETCH  OF  HON.  THOMAS  L.  HAMER.  21 

President  was  confined  to  his  room,  and,  although  Hamer  saw 
him,  his  continued  indisposition  prevented  my  being  presented 
during  the  several  days  that  I  remained  in  the  city.  Mr.  Hamer 
took  me  to  the  Capitol,  and  to  see  Mr.  Dickerson,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  and  obtained  permission  for  me  to  go  to  West 
Point  for  the  winter,  where  I  could  employ  my  time  in  study. 
This  indulgence  served  me  greatly.  I  had  come  East  under 
orders  to  the  store-ship  Relief,  then  in  commission  at  Norfolk, 
Virginia.  After  spending  several  days  in  Washington,  Mr. 
Hamer  took  me  to  the  railroad  depot  for  Baltimore.  He  pre- 
sented me  with  a  copy  of  "Falconer's  Shipwreck,"  which  I 
kept  for  many  years ;  he  also  gave  me  a  flashy  breastpin  then  in 
vogue ;  this  was  borrowed  by  a  goggle-eyed  midshipman  after  I 
went  afloat,  and  that  was  the  last  I  saw  of  it. 

The  unpretentious  brick  shed  that  did  duty  as  the  railroad 
depot  at  Washington  was  located  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  near 
where  Goose  Creek,  now  no  longer  seen,  passes  through  a  tunnel. 
At  about  two  o'clock,  in  the  early  part  of  December,  1836,  Mr. 
Hamer  bade  me  good-by,  and  sent  me  on  my  journey  towards 
Baltimore,  where  I  arrived  at  sunset  and  went  to  the  Exchange 
Hotel.  I  had  never  been  farther  away  from  home  than  to  Cin- 
cinnati, by  stage-coach,  some  fifty  miles,  or  by  steamboat  on  the 
river. 

As  I  remember,  this  was  the  last  time  I  saw  my  good  friend, 
although  he  did  not  die  until  after  the  battle  of  Monterey,  in 
Mexico,  a  dozen  years  later.  Mr.  Hamer  was  a  gentleman,  of 
rare  ability  and  character,  who  would  have  had  a  distinguished 
career  had  he  lived,  and  a  few  further  words  relating  to  him 
may  be  of  interest.  After  serving  several  years  in  Congress,  he 
declined  re-election,  stating  that  he  could  not  afford  to  neglect 
longer  the  interests  of  his  family.  He  was  known  throughout 
Ohio  as  an  able  man ;  even  when  a  boy  I  was  much  interested 
in  his  admirable  discussions,  on  any  topic  which  he  brought  up, 
with  my  father,  who  was  his  intimate  friend.  It  was  marvellous 
to  me  to  see  him  read  a  column  or  more  from  a  newspaper  and 
then  discuss  its  contents  paragraph  by  paragraph  as  presented. 
After  he  had  served  one  term  in  Congress  his  party  wished  to 
make  him  Speaker  of  the  House ;  this  he  positively  declined  in 


22  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

favor  of  Polk,  a  much  older  member,  and  afterwards  President 
of  the  United  States.  When  the  war  with  Mexico  was  begun, 
in  1846,  Hamer  was  active  in  promoting  the  organization  of 
volunteers  in  Ohio.  Although  holding  no  office,  he  was  known 
as  a  pronounced  Democrat.  His  political  enemies  taunted  him 
with  the  inquiry,  "  If  you  are  so  anxious  to  raise  volunteers, 
why  do  you  not  go?"  He  accepted  the  challenge,  and  then 
there  was  no  difficulty  in  raising  a  regiment,  and  he  was  soon 
off  for  the  borders  of  Mexico.  After  General  Zachary  Taylor 
was  elected  President,  I  paid  my  respects  to  him,  and  spoke  of 
General  Hamer ;  he  said,  with  much  feeling,  that  Hamer' s  death 
was  a  great  loss,  more  than  that,  of  any  other  officer  under  his 
command  would  have  been.  At  the  battle  of  Monterey  his  con- 
duct and  bearing  were  as  they  would  have  been  had  he  been 
trained  and  brought  up  in  the  army ;  he  was  a  natural  soldier, 
and  those  under  him  were  disciplined  by  his  simple  command 
of  them.  A  few  months  after  the  battle  of  Monterey,  Hamer 
died,  of  dysentery,  at  that  place.  When  a  member  of  Congress 
from  Ohio,  he  obtained  the  appointment  of  U.  S.  Grant  to  the 
Military  Academy.  After  General  Grant  became  President  of 
the  United  States  he  had  the  same  opinion  as  that  above  ex- 
pressed of  General  Hamer,  and  further  declared  that  had  he  not 
prematurely  died  he  would  have  held  high  place  in  the  history 
of  his  country.  Now  his  memory  lingers  only  in  the  recollec- 
tion of  a  few  old  men,  and  with  their  death,  in  the  ever-changing 
current  of  humanity,  great  as  he  was  in  all  the  characteristics 
of  manhood,  he  will  be  forgotten. 


WESTERN  BANK-NOTES  NOT  AT  PAR.  23 


CHAPTER  II. 

Trip  from  Baltimore  to  West  Point— Western  Bank-Notes  not  at  Par — Letter 
from  General  Grant — Keceives  Instruction  in  Geometry  and  Algebra — Voy- 
age to  Norfolk — Meets  an  Inquisitive,  Ill-bred  Man,  and  disposes  of  him — 
Visit  to  Tailor  Hartshorn — "  Keep  your  Beceipts  and  make  no  Tailor-Bills" 
— Turns  out  in  his  Uniform — Beports  to  Commodore  Warrington,  who 
orders  him  to  report  to  Lieutenant  Commanding  Dornin — Commodore 
Thomas  ap  Catesby  Jones — Story  of  a  Collision  with  a  Whale  on  Board  the 
Macedonian — The  Feejee  Island  Cannibals — A  Midshipman  tries  a  Prac- 
tical Joke  and  gets  the  worst  of  it— The  Hospitality  of  Norfolk — Ordered 
to  the  West  Indies  on  the  Levant — Admiral  Farragut  a  Passenger — As- 
signed to  the  Sloop-of-War  Vandalia. 

The  following  morning  I  went  on  board  a  steamboat  for 
Frenchtown,  en  route  for  West  Point,  and  thence  by  a  railroad, 
sixteen  miles  in  length,  to  New  Castle,  then  a  small  place,  situ- 
ated on  the  Delaware  River  some  thirty-five  miles  below  Phila- 
delphia. At  New  Castle  we  took  another  steamboat,  and  found 
a  considerable  interruption  from  the  ice  then  in  the  river.  It 
was  sunset  when  we  reached  Philadelphia.  As  we  passed  the 
navy-yard,  below  the  city,  the  large  ship-house  wTas  pointed 
out,  in  which  was  the  line-of-battle-ship  Pennsylvania,  then  re- 
garded as  among  the  grandest  naval  constructions  of  the  world. 
Before  we  reached  the  city,  word  was  passed  that  persons  wishing 
to  go  directly  to  New  York  could  obtain  tickets  at  the  captain's 
office.  On  presenting  myself  and  offering  Western  bank-notes, 
I  was  informed  that  they  were  at  a  discount  and  not  receivable. 
I  proposed  that  the  discount  should  be  taken  off,  but  that  offer 
was  refused. 

I  was  thus  compelled  to  remain  over,  and  went  to  the  United 
States  Hotel,  opposite  the  old  State-House,  memorable  now,  as 
half  a  century  ago,  as  the  house  in  which  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  signed  in  1776.  The  following  morning, 
having  changed  my  money  at  a  considerable  discount,  I  went 
to  the  wharf,  took  passage  on  another  steamboat  for  Burlington, 
and  thence  to  Perth  Amboy  by  railroad.  The  cars  seemed  small 
and  mean  in  appearance,  compared  with  those  that  ran  between 


24  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Washington  and  Baltimore.  At  Perth  Amboy  we  took  another 
steamboat,  and  reached  New  York  about  three  p.m.,  an  hour  be- 
fore the  Pludson  River  boat  left  for  Albany.  I  filled  my  pockets 
with  oranges,  and  awaited  with  satisfaction  the  leaving  of  the 
steamboat,  looking  out  upon  the  strange  sights  of  ships,  brigs, 
and  schooners  that  lay  at  the  wharves  or  passed  to  and  fro. 
The  ordinary  method  of  landing  passengers  in  transit  along  the 
river  was  by  means  of  a  yawl.  On  approaching  the  West  Point 
wharf  an  old  woman  and  myself  were  the  only  persons  landed  ; 
we  were  directed  to  get  into  the  boat,  the  steamer  was  slowed, 
and  finally  the  engine  stopped,  the  boat  was  lowered,  attached 
to  a  line  that  was  veered  away  from  the  vessel.  Signals  were 
made  from  the  boat  by  means  of  a  lantern  ;  the  boat  was  sheered 
into  the  wharf  at  a  favorable  time,  the  line  was  slackened  until 
we  were  put  on  shore,  and  was  then  hauled  in,  and  the  yawl  was 
hoisted  as  the  steamboat  gathered  headway.  This  method  of 
landing  had  to  be  discontinued,  for  the  double  reason  that  many 
people  were  drowned  ("  by  accident,"  as  it  was  called)  and  that 
passengers  became  too  numerous  to  be  landed  in  that  manner. 

My  elder  brother  had  graduated  at  the  Academy  in  1831,  and, 
after  some  service  at  Castle  Pinckney,  in  Charleston  harbor, 
South  Carolina,  during  the  "  nullification  war,"  was  detailed  for 
duty  as  an  assistant  instructor,  where  he  served  for  some  years. 
He  was  good  enough  to  suggest  that  I  would  derive  advantage 
from  some  primary  instruction  at  that  time,  the  more  so  as  in  the 
naval  service  the  smaller  vessels  had  no  "  professors  of  mathe- 
matics," as  the  few  teachers  on  board  the  larger  vessels  were 
styled.  I  remained  with  my  brother  until  about  the  middle  of 
March,  when  the  Hudson  River  was  again  free  from  ice.  To  his 
instruction  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  whatever  success  or  use- 
fulness I  have  attained  in  the  naval  service.  As  an  illustration 
of  the  disadvantages  Western  boys  labored  under  at  that  time  in 
obtaining  a  fair  primary  schooling,  I  quote  the  following  letter 
from  General  Grant,  which  alludes  in  part  to  a  time  a  year  or 
so  previous  to  my  going  East. 

Pau,  France,  December  6,  1878. 
My  dear  Admiral,— On  my  arrival  here,  last  night,  I  found  a  very 
large  mail,  and  in  it  two  letters  from  you.     At  that  time  I  had  fully  deter- 
mined not  to  go  by  India,  China,  and  Japan,  and  so  wrote  the  Secretary 


RECEIVES  INSTRUCTION  IN  GEOMETRY  AND  ALGEBRA.   25 

of  the  Navy  ;  however,  if  I  determined  otherwise  before  the  departure  of 
the  Richmond  from  America,  I  would  cable  him.  This  morning  I  sent 
him  a  despatch  that  I  would  accept  his  offer  of  a  passage  on  the  steamer. 
I  could  not  say  much  in  a  despatch,  but  hope  we  will  be  able  to  join  the 
steamer  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mediterranean,  somewhere  between  Mar- 
seilles and  Palermo.  This  will  extend  my  trip,  and  make  my  arrival  in 
America  some  months  later  than  I  had  expected,  probably  extending  the 
time  into  late  fall.  Of  course,  going  by  way  of  San  Francisco,  I  shall 
want  to  spend  at  least  a  month  going  over  old  ground  with  which  I  was 
familiar  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  The  quarter  of  a  century  does  not 
seem  half  so  long  as  the  one  that  preceded  it,  and  passed  since  you  and  I 
first  received  instructions  under  John  D.  White,  and  a  long  beech  switch, 
cut  generally  by  the  boys  for  their  own  chastisement. 

Mrs.  Grant  wants  me  to  say  now  that  she  regrets  your  retirement,  be- 
cause you  might  otherwise  accompany  us,  and  she  has  every  confidence 
in  you  on  your  native  element.  I  believe  you  are  a  first-class  farmer 
besides. 

I  have  not  yet  received  your  paper  on  the  Interoceanic  Canal,  but  will 
read  it  with  great  interest  when  it  reaches  me.  I  had  preserved  with 
great  care  a  letter  you  wrote  me  as  much  as  nine  months  ago,  giving  the 
route  and  places  to  visit  on  naval  vessels  after  leaving  the  Red  Sea,  until 
leaving  Gibraltar.  But  I  destroyed  it  a  few  days  ago ;  I  would  be  very 
glad  to  get  a  repetition  of  it  now.  I  am  very  sorry,  with  Mrs.  Grant, 
that  you  cannot  be  the  commander  on  our  proposed  trip,  and  that  Mrs. 
Ammen  is  not  to  be  with  us, 

Mrs.  Grant  sends  her  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children,  and  best 
regards  to  you.  I  join  in  love  to  the  children,  regards  to  Mrs.  A.,  Mrs. 
Atocha,  and  yourself. 

Very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Under  the  careful  instruction  of  my  brother,  in  the  three 
months  at  "West  Point  I  made  fair  progress  in  geometry  and 
algebra.  An  almost  daily  walk  was  to  the  walls  of  Fort  Put- 
nam, a  mile  away,  returning  by  way  of  Buttermilk  Falls  and 
along  the  bank  of  the  Hudson.  Clothed  in  ice  and  snow  the 
scenery  is  even  grander  than  in  the  summer.  There  are  few 
spots  on  the  globe  that  are  more  lovely  than  this  vicinity,  al- 
though it  does  not  possess  the  desolate  grandeur  of  the  Straits 
of  Magellan  nor  the  gorgeous  and  picturesque  intertropical 
beauty  of  the  Bay  of  Rio  Janeiro. 

When  I  left  West  Point  my  brother  took  me  to  New  York, 
and  suggested  a  voyage  to  Norfolk  on  board  of  a  topsail  schooner 


26  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

packet.  There  were  several  other  passengers,  among  them  an 
inquisitive  and  ill-bred  young  man,  who,  after  a  good  deal  of 
impertinent  inquiry,  at  length  learned  that  I  was  on  my  way  to 
join  a  vessel  in  the  capacity  of  midshipman.  His  manner  and 
language  then  became  chaffing  and  insulting,  and  probably  my 
replies  were  not  less  so.  He  finally  informed  me  that  I  was 
"  nothing  but  a  brat,"  and  he  would  "thrash  me  soundly"  if  I 
gave  him  any  more  of  my  "  sauce."  After  the  manner  of  West- 
ern boys  of  that  period,  I  took  from  my  pocket  what  was  known 
as  a  Spanish  dirk  knife,  some  six  inches  long,  opened  it,  and  in- 
formed him  that  I  was  then  ready  to  take  the  thrashing  provided 
he  was  able  to  give  it  to  me.  He  "  fought  shy"  of  me  during 
the  day  or  so  before  we  separated  on  reaching  Norfolk.  We 
passed  Cape  Henry  about  noon,  and  saw  two  French  frigates  at 
anchor  in  Hampton  Roads.  As  the  sun  went  down  on  nearing  that 
locality,  a  bugle  was  sounded  and  their  boats  were  hoisted,  as  is 
usual.  They  were  the  first  vessels  of  war  that  I  had  seen,  and 
impressed  me  greatly. 

On  landing  at  Norfolk,  I  went  to  French's  Hotel.  It  was 
not  much  of  a  house  in  appearance,  and  had  hardly  a  dozen 
bedrooms,  but  was  famous  then  with  "  gourmets"  over  the  whole 
country.  The  terrapins,  oysters,  and  fish  abounding  in  those 
waters  were  well  served,  and  fine  old  wines  were  obtainable  to 
order. 

My  first  visit,  of  course,  was  to  a  tailor,  who  made  my  uni- 
form ;  and  now,  as  I  write,  a  vague  idea  comes  from  the  "  brain's 
haunted  cell"  that  his  name  was  Hartshorn,  and  on  inquiry  of 
the  "  oldest  inhabitant"  I  find  that  I  was  not  in  error.  Here  is 
another  proof  that  many  very  indifferent  events  are  not  forgotten ; 
they  are  only  unremembered,  and  may  come  again  when  some 
trivial  circumstance,  as  the  present  writing,  calls  them  up.  Here 
I  remark  that  I  never  owed  a  tailor's  bill,  and  commend  a  like 
course  to  all  persons  entering  the  navy  or  the  army  ;  indeed, 
young  gentlemen  who  have  no  predilections  for  either  service 
will  certainly  not  be  the  worse  off  if  they  never  owe  a  tailor,  and 
if,  when  they  get  clothing,  they  will  take  a  receipt  and  put  it 
carefully  away,  even  beyond  a  three  years'  cruise  at  sea.  When 
about  sailing  on  one  occasion,  I  tore  in  two  a  receipt  of  one  or 


REPORTS   TO   COMMODORE   WARRINGTON.  27 

two  years'  date,  and  then,  bearing  in  mind  that  I  might  be  called 
upon  later  for  payment,  put  the  two  pieces  among  my  "archives." 
On  my  return  to  the  United  States  I  was  politely  informed  by 
the  tailor  that  he  had  a  small  bill  against  me  for  a  considerable 
time,  which  he  hoped  I  would  find  it  convenient  to  settle  with- 
out further  delay.  I  was  malicious  enough  to  play  him  a  little, 
and  wrote  that  it  seemed  to  me  I  had  paid  the  bill  and  hoped  he 
would  examine  his  books  carefully.  This  led  to  his  affirmation 
that  the  bill  was  just.  In  a  few  weeks  I  passed  through  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  located,  called  on  him,  and  took 
the  torn  receipt  from  my  pocket-book,  and  asked  him  to  be  good 
enough  to  look  at  it  and  inform  me  whether  it  did  not  cover  my 
alleged  indebtedness.  He  was  not  at  all  discomposed  ;  only  said 
that  "  mistakes  would  sometimes  occur ;"  though  he  would  gladly 
have  pocketed  my  money  had  I  not  taken  the  precaution  to 
preserve  my  receipt  for  a  long  time, — which  fact,  I  doubt  not, 
was  a  matter  of  wonder  to  him.  I  had  no  reason  to  remember 
the  tailor  Hartshorn  for  any  conduct  of  this  kind. 

Fitted  with  a  uniform,  and  wearing  a  blue  webbing  belt,  with 
gorgeous  gilt  chains  and  a  midshipman's  dirk,  I  went  at  once 
to  the  navy-yard  at  Gosport,  in  a  sail-boat  common  in  those 
waters  at  that  time.  I  reported  to  Commodore  Warrington, 
then  in  command,  who  was  called  a  "  tartar."  He  received  me 
very  kindly,  although  his  face  did  not  express  great  benevolence; 
but  as  I  grew  up  in  the  service  it  came  within  my  comprehension 
that  officers  are  not  paid  for  such  traits,  but  for  duties  that  can- 
not at  all  times  make  benevolence  and  kindliness  controlling. 
My  orders  were  endorsed  by  the  commodore  to  report  to  Lieu- 
tenant Commanding  Dornin  on  board  of  the  store-ship  Relief, 
which  I  did  forthwith.  This  officer  had  an  Irish  brogue,  a 
bright,  kindly  face,  and  was  indeed  thoroughly  an  Irish  gentle- 
man. My  orders  were  for  temporary  duty ;  it  was  not  intended 
to  have  midshipmen  on  board  the  store-ship.  The  wardroom 
officers  took  me  into  their  mess,  and  treated  me  with  great 
kindness.  Appreciating  my  lack  of  experience,  one  of  them  was 
good  enough  to  propose  that  his  family  should  see  to  my  being 
furnished  with  a  sea  outfit,  and  this  was  done,  much  to  my 
satisfaction  and  personal  interest. 


28  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

At  that  time  the  Relief  carried  the  broad  pennant  of  Com- 
modore Thomas  ap  Catesby  Jones,  who  was  then  in  command 
of  what  was  known  as  the  Exploring  Expedition  destined  for 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was  to  consist  of  the  frigate  Macedonian, 
the  brigs  Pioneer  and  Consort,  the  schooner  Pilot,  and  the 
store-ship  Relief.  The  vessels  other  than  the  Macedonian  had 
been  built  specially  for  the  expedition.  They  had  very  heavy 
frames,  reinforced  bows,  and  very  indifferent  models,  which 
quite  forbade  speed.  These  vessels,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Macedonian,  went  to  sea  about  the  last  of  April,  1837,  for  a 
trial  cruise.  In  beating  from  Norfolk  to  Hampton  Roads,  the 
Consort  ran  into  the  Pioneer,  the  latter  being  on  the  starboard 
tack  and,  according  to  the  Rules  of  the  Road,  having  the  right 
of  way.  In  looking  at  this  collision  I  gained  my  first  lesson  on 
this  very  important  subject,  that  has  been  in  my  mind  ever  since. 
There  was  a  great  wrangle,  but  properly  there  could  be  no  dis- 
pute as  to  the  culpable  party.  Our  few  days  at  sea  off  Cape 
Hatteras  established  the  fact  that  had  the  object  been  to  build 
vessels  of  exceptional  slowness  the  success  would  have  been  un- 
doubted. The  unfitness  of  such  vessels  to  make  long  voyages 
in  unfrequented  seas,  probably  led  Commodore  Jones  at  a  later 
period  to  ask  to  be  relieved  from  the  command  of  the  expedition. 

On  one  occasion  when  the  commodore  was  the  guest  of 
Captain  Dornin,  he  was  good  enough  to  invite  me  to  dine.  The 
commodore  had  been  in  command  of  the  sloop-of-war  Peacock, 
eleven  years  before,  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  One  fine  afternoon, 
he  said,  they  were  sailing  along  at  the  rate  of  ten  knots,  with  a 
fore-topmast  studding-sail  set,  when  a  shock  was  felt  by  him, 
and,  looking  out  astern,  bloody  water  was  seen.  The  vessel 
continued  on  her  course ;  an  hour  or  so  later  the  lookout  aloft 
reported  a  whale  some  distance  ahead  and  coming  towards  the 
ship  ;  onward  it  came,  until  close  by,  when  it  "  sounded," — that 
is  to  say,  threw  its  tail  high  into  the  air, — and,  as  it  went  down, 
struck  the  bow  of  the  vessel  with  such  violence  as  to  make  every 
timber  forward  crack ;  had  the  vessel  been  slightly  built,  he  said, 
she  probably  would  have  sunk  at  once.  The  commodore  sup- 
posed that  the  whale,  having  been  struck  before,  had  thus  sought 
vengeance,  or  perhaps  it  might  have  been  the  mate  of  the  one 


THE  FEEJEE  ISLAND   CANNIBALS.  29 

that  was  struck.  In  a  recent  attempt  to  ascertain  the  facts 
which  might  appear  in  the  log-book  of  the  vessel,  that  portion 
covering  the  period  for  some  months  before  and  after  this 
occurrence — from  January  1  to  May  11>  1826 — was  not  to  be 
found.  The  vessel  at  the  latter  date  was  in  the  port  of  Callao, 
Peru,  and  logged  daily  as  making  one  foot  of  water  per  hour  in 
leakage.  The  following  August,  when  at  Rio  Janeiro,  home- 
ward bound,  Commodore  Jones  wrote  to  the  Navy  Department 
as  follows  :  "  The  sails  have  proved  worse  than  I  supposed  them 
to  be,  as  also  the  water-casks,  for,  being  obliged  to  break  out 
the  hold  at  Callao  to  lighten  ship  sufficiently  to  repair  the 
damages  sustained  by  a  whale  striking  us.  .  .  ."  Notwith- 
standing my  researches,  nothing  more  could  be  learned  in 
relation  to  this  aggressive  whale. 

In  June,  1837,  the  Macedonian  was  put  in  commission,  and, 
being  transferred  to  her,  I  found  myself  one  of  a  dozen  mid- 
shipmen and  several  passed  midshipmen  in  her  steerage.  Among 
the  latter  were  Swann,  some  years  later  lost  at  sea  on  board  of 
the  Grampus ;  and  Underwood,  killed  a  year  or  so  later  at  the 
Feejee  Islands  by  the  savages,  who  endeavored  to  carry  his  body 
into  the  interior  to  roast,  but  were  driven  off,  and  his  remains 
were  taken  on  board  ship.  Captain  Wilkes  soon  after  attacked 
the  natives  living  on  the  small  island  where  the  outrage  was 
perpetrated  ;  he  burned  their  villages  and  butchered  so  many  of 
the  inhabitants  that  not  a  single  visitor  has  since  been  killed  for 
the  purpose  of  feasting  upon  him.  Underwood  was  an  ex- 
ceptionally well-educated  officer ;  he  had  been  abroad  on  leave, 
had  studied  Italian,  had  a  taste  for  drawing,  and  more  knowl- 
edge of  astronomy  than  was  then  usual  in  the  navy.  He 
pointed  out  to  me  many  constellations,  some  of  which  were  of 
service  in  taking  observations. 

Not  long  after  we  went  on  board  of  the  Macedonian  we 
dropped  down  to  Craney  Island,  some  five  miles  below  Norfolk. 
There  were  no  steam-tugs  in  the  naval  service  at  that  time ;  in 
the  larger  seaports  they  were  just  coming  into  use  for  towing 
European  packets  and  other  large  merchant-ships  in  and  out  of 
port.  The  ordinary  boats  of  vessels  of  war  were  then  employed 
in   supplying   their   wants,  in   bringing   from   the   navy-yard 


30  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

provisions  and  ship-stores  of  whatever  sort,  and  in  watering 
ship.  After  a  time  we  left  off  bringing  water  from  the  navy- 
yard,  more  than  six  miles  distant,  and  resorted  to  Craney  Island, 
only  a  mile  from  our  anchorage.  The  water  was  sometimes 
brackish  j  in  the  reservoir  (which  was  a  hogshead  sunk  into  the 
sand)  it  would  rise  and  fall  with  the  tide,  owing  to  a  greater  or 
less  external  hydrostatic  pressure.  We  sometimes  put  our  casks 
in  the  ship's  boats,  and  occasionally  we  towed  them  by  the  boats, 
then  rolled  them  up  to  the  place  of  supply,  and,  after  filling 
them,  rove  a  tow-line  through  the  beckets  put  on  the  casks  to 
keep  the  bungs  up  when  being  towed  off,  and  have  them  ready 
for  hoisting  when  they  came  alongside.  It  took  several  hours 
to  fill  the  casks  and  get  them  down  again  into  the  water.  I  was 
assigned  to  accompany  an  old  midshipman  whom  I  will  call 
"  Sam  Smith."  He  was  about  twenty  years  of  age,  and  quite 
large  and  precocious ;  he  had  black  side  whiskers,  upon  which 
he  used  a  quantity  of  Macassar  oil,  as  well  as  on  his  hair ;  he 
chewed  tobacco,  was  a  proficient  in  swearing,  wore  no  suspenders, 
and  could  "  hitch"  up  his  trousers  quite  as  deftly  as  any  able 
seaman.  "  Sam"  had  served  before  the  mast  in  the  merchant 
service,  belonged  to  a  very  good  family  in  a  seaport  city,  and 
had  the  idea,  not  uncommon  with  many  well-meaning  youths, 
that  there  was  something  smart  in  being  vulgar.  He  was  very 
fond  of  a  practical  joke  when  it  was  on  some  other  person,  but 
did  not  seem  to  relish  it  when  he  was  the  subject.  When  on 
this  duty  we  carried  in  addition  to  our  side-arms  two  large 
pistols ;  they  were  fitted  with  a  flat  rod  which  acted  as  a  holder 
when  inserted  inside  the  pistol-belt.  One  day  while  I  was 
seated  on  a  cask  quietly  regarding  the  men  at  work  filling  the 
casks,  my  superior,  quite  forgetting  the  dignity  of  command, 
stealthily  came  up  behind,  seized  me  by  the  shoulders,  and 
pulled  me  backward,  so  that  I  rolled  over,  pistols  and  all. 
This  I  regarded  as  a  rather  rough  joke,  but  endured  it  with 
equanimity,  until  I  saw  "Sam"  seated  in  like  manner,  chewing 
his  delicious  quid.  Circumstances  favored  my  approach,  if  in- 
deed it  had  occurred  to  him  that  I  would  attempt  to  throw  him 
over,  small  as  I  was.  I  seized  him  violently,  pulled  him  back- 
ward, and  over  he  went,  just  as  he  had  served  me.     He  grew 


THE  HOSPITALITY  OF  NORFOLK.  31 

quite  angry,  called  me  a  "  brat,"  and  tried  in  vain  to  catch  me. 
Then  he  took  a  pistol  from  his  belt  and  snapped  it  at  me.  This 
act  aroused  my  ire ;  I  halted,  drew  one  of  my  pistols,  cocked  it, 
and  told  him  if  he  snapped  at  me  again  I  would  shoot  him ; 
that  I  had  quite  as  much  right  to  pull  him  over  as  he  had  to 
treat  me  in  that  manner.  Our  pistols  were  then  returned  to  our 
belts,  and  we  did  not  abuse  each  other  afterwards. 

At  that  time,  and  long  before,  Norfolk  was  noted  for  its 
hospitality,  and  this  reputation  that  city  kept  up  until  the 
commencement  of  our  civil  war.  There  was  a  geniality  and  a 
kindliness  towards  young  officers  that  could  not  fail  to  be  ap- 
preciated, and  there  was  a  satisfied  manner  as  to  the  possession 
of  the  goods  of  this  life,  and  a  courtly  dignity  very  agreeable, 
in  the  elderly  persons.  The  young  ladies  had  more  grace,  beauty, 
and  propriety  of  manner  than  are  now  common  in  the  great 
cities,  where  a  constant  struggle  exists  for  "  position"  and  leader- 
ship, which  is  not  favorable  to  the  development  of  genial  or 
agreeable  qualities.  It  was  then  asserted  that  along  an  entire 
street,  in  the  forenoon,  in  every  house  would  be  heard  the  sound 
of  a  piano,  accompanied  vocally  by  the  songs  of  the  day.  It 
may  be  that  the  same  satisfactory  condition  continues  ;  pessimists 
say  otherwise, — that  the  music  of  long  ago  is  heard  no  more, 
and  that  silence  now  reigns  supreme.  At  that  time,  too,  it  was 
said  that  by  a  simple  promenade  along  Granby  Street  all  the 
society  people  on  Sunday  afternoons  passed  in  review,  the  men 
wearing  "  swallow-tails"  and  black  kid  gloves  and  their  com- 
panions of  the  gentler  sex  being  dressed  in  the  height  of  fashion. 
I  do  not  think  there  is  a  pen  so  malicious  or  a  heart  so  dead  to 
human  sympathy  as  to  give  utterance  to  an  unkind  expression 
concerning  the  Norfolk  of  half  a  century  ago. 

In  the  autumn  of  1837  the  vessels  of  the  Exploring  Expe- 
dition left  those  quiet  waters  for  New  York,  in  order  to  complete 
their  outfit.  A  furnace  was  put  in  the  fore-peak,  fitted  with  a 
pipe-coil  around  and  within  it,  which  was  filled  with  water  and 
conducted  around  those  parts  of  the  vessel  which  it  was  designed 
to  heat.  This  was  to  meet  the  contingency  of  reaching  a  high 
southern  latitude,  where  the  icebergs  and  icy  coasts  dominate, 
those  of  northern  waters  being  mere  pygmies  in  comparison. 


32  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    TEE  NEW. 

India-rubber  balsas,  boxes  of  instruments,  and  only  men  of 
science  knew  what  else,  were  put  on  board,  but  still  something 
interposed ;  the  vessels  of  the  expedition  did  not  leave.  Thus 
passed  the  winter  of  1837-38. 

During  this  time  one  of  my  classmates,  as  I  came  down  the 
ladder,  seized  a  shot-gun  that  was  lying  on  the  mess-table, 
whirled  it  quickly  into  the  air,  said  "  Advance  and  give  the 
countersign,"  brought  the  gun  to  his  shoulder,  and  fired,  the 
charge  entering  the  upper  part  of  the  wardroom  bulkhead  as  a 
solid  mass,  six  feet  beyond  me.  The  muzzle  was  so  near  me  that 
the  bosom  of  my  shirt  was  blackened  by  the  powder  from  the 
gun.  The  intelligent  youth  who  thus  came  so  near  putting  an 
end  to  the  narrator  "  did  not  know  the  gun  was  loaded." 

In  the  early  spring  several  companions  and  myself,  tired  of  a 
year's  delay,  applied  for  leave  to  go  with  the  Levant,  then  about 
ready  to  sail  for  the  West  Indies,  and  were  ordered  thereto.  She 
was  a  new  sloop-of-war,  and  carried  a  battery  of  medium  thirty- 
two  pounders,  which  was  heavier  than  that  of  the  older  vessels 
of  that  class.  At  that  time  solid  shot  only  were  in  use  with  us, 
and  locks  and  primers  were  just  beginning  to  be  supplied  to  great 
guns.  We  were  bound  for  Pensacola,  then  the  rendezvous  of 
what  was  known  as  the  West  India  squadron.  The  cruising 
was  almost  entirely  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  uninteresting  a 
sea  as  exists  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  When  we  sailed  the 
Levant  was  excessively  crowded  with  midshipmen  and  other 
steerage  officers  sent  to  supply  the  half-dozen  vessels  on  the 
station ;  to  add  further  to  our  discomfort,  we  went  into  Norfolk 
to  get  a  draft  of  fifty  or  more  sailors  to  fill  deficiencies  in  the 
crews. 

In  the  cabin,  as  a  passenger,  was  the  late  Admiral  Farragut, 
then  a  lieutenant,  going  out  to  take  command  of  some  small 
vessel  on  that  station.  During  the  voyage,  I  made  his  acquaint- 
ance at  the  fore-topmast-head,  where  he  had  come  to  get  a  look 
at  some  small  islands  to  be  seen  from  aloft.  He  was  then  per- 
haps forty  years  of  age,  having  entered  the  navy  twenty-eight 
years  before,  when  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  and  was  quite  active 
aloft. 

We  reached  Pensacola  in  sixteen  days.    Although  Cape  Henry 


ASSIGNED    TO   THE  SLOOP-OF-WAR    V AND  ALIA.         33 

is  not  lacking  in  sand,  it  has  not  the  dazzling  whiteness  of  the 
sand-hills  at  the  entrance  to  Pensacola,  which  in  the  light  of  the 
rising  sun  have  much  the  appearance  of  snow. 

A  day  or  so  after  reaching  our  anchorage  off  Pensacola  I  was 
assigned  to  the  sloop-of-war  Vandal  ia,  that  had  been  on  the 
station  for  four  years.  Her  bottom  was  covered  inches  deep 
with  barnacles,  oysters,  and  marine  grasses,  which  made  her 
exceedingly  slow  under  sail,  even  with  a  fresh  and  fair  wind. 
On  receiving  my  orders,  I  asked  the  loan  of  a  bag  such  as  sea- 
men have  for  their  clothing,  and,  stowing  in  it  my  earthly  goods, 
with  the  exception  of  a  quadrant,  with  which  I  had  provided 
myself,  as  required  by  the  Regulations,  I  asked  for  a  ship's  boat, 
and  was  sent  on  board  of  that  vessel.  On  presenting  myself  to 
the  officer  of  the  deck,  he  sent  me  to  the  captain  to  report ;  he 
endorsed  my  order,  and,  passing  out  on  the  quarter-deck,  I  was 
taken  in  charge  by  the  midshipman  of  the  watch,  and  shown  into 
the  steerage,  where  I  was  introduced  to  the  captain's  clerk,  who 
was  also  the  caterer  of  the  mess,  and  evidently  impressed  with 
the  responsibility  and  the  dignity  of  that  title.  He  informed 
me  that  he  had  laid  in  the  sea-stores  and  would  be  pleased  to 
receive  my  mess-bill,  which  was  ten  dollars.  I  assured  him  that 
no  delay  should  occur  in  meeting  my  dues. 

In  a  few  days  other  midshipmen  were  transferred  from  the 
Levant  and  from  the  Erie,  that  soon  after  came  into  port  from 
the  Atlantic  coast.  Our  mess  consisted,  before  sailing,  of  a 
dozen  or  more,  all  of  whom  were  midshipmen  with  the  excep- 
tion of  an  assistant  surgeon  who  had  just  entered  the  navy,  and 
the  captain's  clerk. 

Our  apartment  was  so  ample,  compared  to  the  steerage  of  the 
Levant,  that  we  felt  quite  relieved.  It  extended  from  one  side 
of  the  vessel  to  the  other,  a  distance  of  about  thirty  feet,  and 
fore  and  aft  about  ten  feet.  A  large  hatchway,  provided  with 
two  ladders,  placed  near  the  doors  leading  into  the  wardroom, 
the  apartment  of  the  lieutenants,  the  surgeon,  and  the  purser,  led 
to  the  spar-deck. 

A  bulkhead  separated  us  from  the  wardroom,  as  also  from 
the  berth-deck,  just  forward  of  which  were  the  rooms  of  the 
boatswain,  gunner,  and  sail-maker,  as  also  the  dispensary,  called 

3 


34  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

on  board  the  "doctor  shop."  An  air-port  about  nine  inches 
long  and  six  wide  admitted  air  and  light  on  each  side  of  the 
steerage,  when  in  port.  It  was  made  of  heavy  oak,  and  when 
we  went  to  sea  was  calked  in  with  oakum  by  the  carpenter,  in 
common  with  all  of  the  other  air-ports  on  the  berth-deck  and  in 
the  wardroom.  Around  the  apartment,  along  the  sides  of  the 
vessel  and  the  bulkheads,  were  lockers,  painted  black,  about  two 
feet  square,  in  which  we  stowed  our  clothing.  A  camp-stool  for 
every  one  in  the  mess,  two  rude  wash-stands  and  basins,  and 
hooks  upon  which  our  hammocks  were  hung,  completed  the  very 
simple  outfit,  with  the  exception  of  shelving  along  the  sides  of 
the  vessel  for  our  crockery  and  a  few  small  stores.  Our  pea- 
jackets  were  either  suspended  from  a  hammock-hook,  as  were 
our  individual  towels,  or  were  folded  and  laid  over  the  locker  of 
the  owner.  These  lockers  were  made  use  of  for  "  snoozing/'  as 
it  was  called.  The  captain's  clerk  had  so  cultivated  this  capacity 
that  quite  half  the  day  he  was  stretched  on  the  lockers  with  a 
pea-jacket  under  his  head  for  a  pillow.  White  drilling  panta- 
loons were  usually  worn,  but,  owing  to  the  black  paint  and  the 
not  very  clean  tops  of  the  lockers,  the  color  of  the  seats,  the 
knees,  and  around  the  ankle-bones  was  not  immaculate,  and 
nobody  in  this  particular  showed  as  marked  points  as  the  cap- 
tain's clerk,  who  would  say,  "  What's  the  odds,  so  long  as  you're 
happy?" 


CHAPTEK  III. 

Cockroaches — Mediterranean  Wingless  ones — Impure  Water — Bread  filled 
with  Bugs — Some  Bemarks  on  the  Officers — "  How  we  did  Thing  s  in  the 
Navy" — The  Gulf  of  Mexico — Eating  Dolphin — French  Vessels  block- 
ading Vera  Cruz — The  Island  and  Castle  of  San  Juan— Turtles — Want  of 
Bread — The  Aguacate,  or  Alligator-Pear — The  Caterer  and  the  Doctor — 
Off  for  Tampico — Sharks — Mosquitoes. 

There  was  one  condition,  common  to  all  vessels  that  had 
been  any  length  of  time  in  those  seas,  that  was  disagreeable  in 
the  extreme,  and  which  I  never  "  got  used  to :"  it  was  the  vile 
odor  of  cockroaches ;  everywhere  below  decks  it  was  ever  pres- 


SOME  REMARKS  ON  THE  OFFICERS.  35 

ent  and  repulsive.  As  soon  as  the  hammocks  were  hung  up, 
these  pests  would  sally  forth  from  their  hiding-places  and  fly- 
around,  chasing  one  another  in  joyful  glee.  This  annoyance 
was  considerably  abated  after  providing  a  dozen  or  more  large 
jars  with  narrow  mouths,  and  putting  a  little  molasses  and 
water  in  them.  Morning  after  morning,  for  a  month  or  more, 
these  traps  would  be  brought  on  deck  and  emptied  overboard, 
until  at  length  the  nuisance  was  sensibly  abated,  but  still  re- 
mained in  disagreeable  proportions.  In  the  Mediterranean  and 
some  other  seas  there  is  a  small  wingless  fellow,  as  numerous 
on  board  vessels  "  as  the  sands  on  the  sea-shore."  But  it  is 
observed  that  the  same  vessel  is  not  afflicted  with  the  two  kinds  : 
they  seem  to  respect  territorial  rights  in  relations  with  each 
other. 

Our  hard  bread  was  much  infested  with  weevils  and  other 
bugs,  but  by  rebaking  until  crisp  it  could  be  eaten  by  hungry 
men  without  repugnance.  The  salt  beef  was  often  tough  and 
indigestible,  the  rice  badly  cooked,  and  the  salt  pork  and  bean 
soup  the  only  delicacy  we  had,  unless  a  cultivated  taste  made 
"duff"  acceptable.  The  greatest  annoyance,  and  what  could 
not  fail  to  be  deleterious  to  health,  was  the  impure  water  then 
carried  on  board  of  the  older  sloops-of-war  in  large  wooden 
casks.  The  more  modern  vessels  were  provided  with  iron  tanks, 
which  conduced  greatly  to  the  health  and  comfort  of  their  crews. 
The  usual  daily  allowance  when  at  sea  was  one  gallon  of  water 
for  each  person,  but  on  one  occasion  we  were  put  upon  five  pints, 
in  a  hot  climate,  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  get  four  hundred  miles  from  a  water-supply,  and  at 
a  time,  too,  when  we  had  six  thousand  gallons  on  board.  In 
relation  to  this  I  will  make  further  mention. 

When  I  joined  the  Vandalia,  and  for  some  months  thereafter, 
she  was  under  the  command  of  Commander  Gwinn,  an  amiable 
officer  who  had  passed  the  age  when  decision  in  emergencies  is 
usual.  The  lieutenants  were  quiet  and  gentlemanly,  as  was  also 
the  surgeon.  The  purser  was  a  short,  heavily-built  man,  with 
one  eye — a  very  sinister  eye  too — and  an  unusually  large  abdo- 
men. He  was  in  no  degree  attractive,  and  was  reputed  to  be 
addicted  to  gambling.      The  captain's  clerk,  our  caterer,  was 


36  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE   NEW. 

about  thirty  years  of  age,  rather  small  and  spare  in  stature ;  he 
had  a  contented,  self-satisfied  smirk,  a  soiled,  oily  appearance, 
and,  as  my  hammock  boy  said,  "  never  did  nothing  to  nobody." 

In  the  mess  when  I  joined  the  vessel  was  an  overgrown  young 
Georgian  called  Dave,  whose  parents  were  originally  from  the 
island  of  Nantucket.  He  was  addicted  to  singing,  with  more 
strength  than  melody,  "  Oh,  give  me  back  my  Arab  steed,  my 
shield  and  falchion  bright,"  and  would  pass  at  once,  like  a  parrot, 
to  an  impersonation  of  Mrs.  Mai  one,  and  in  a  simpering  tone  de- 
clare that  she  "  was  a  very  long-waisted  woman,"  doubtless  a 
quiet  assertion  of  superiority  of  form  over  the  prevailing  fashion 
of  the  day. 

There  were  Billy  B.  and  Hamilton  G.,  who  had  also  come 
out  on  board  the  Levant.  They  were  already  devoted  friends. 
Billy  B.  was  from  Kentucky,  had  made  a  "  cruise  around  the 
Horn,"  and  would  tell  us  about  Lima  and  Valparaiso.  He  had 
a  guitar,  and  would  sing,  with  or  without  invitation,  of  the 
"  roaring  Brandy  wine,"  on  which  vessel  he  had  served.  He  was 
usually  bland,  unless  in  liquor,  and  was  then  sententious  and 
quarrelsome,  not  sparing  even  his  friend  and  admirer  Hamilton 
G.  The  latter  was  not  a  man  of  accomplishments,  but  prided 
himself  on  his  "  solid  worth,"  his  "  society  blandishments,"  and 
extended  travels  "  up  the  Straits,"  where  he  had  been  on  board 
of  the  John  Adams,  during  a  cruise,  in  the  capacity  of  a  mizzen- 
topman.  He  intimated  that  he  was  of  good  family,  and  spoke 
of  Frank  Key  as  a  particular  "  friend  of  the  family."  He  was 
not  less  than  twenty-five  years  of  age,  about  five  and  a  half  feet 
in  height,  stoop-shouldered,  blear-eyed,  with  a  stupid  smile,  and 
spoke  with  an  affected  drawl,  like  many  fops  of  the  present  day. 
His  most  pronounced  feature  was  his  bow  legs, — bowed  to  a 
degree  seldom  seen  in  the  white  race.  Even  with  the  very  wide 
trousers  worn  on  board  ship,  his  crooked  legs  were  still  notice- 
able, and  when  he  was  tipsy  they  appeared  to  sag  so  greatly 
that  the  tails  of  his  full-dress  coat  almost  touched  the  deck  as 
with  self-satisfied  mien  he  walked  along.  Members  of  the  mess 
were  rude  enough  at  times  to  hint  that  his  deformity  had  been 
caused  by  the  donkey-rides  which  he  boasted  of  having  made 
when  at  Port  Mahon ;  this  insinuation  was  always  resented  by 


"HOW  WE  DID    THINGS  IN  THE  NAVY:1  37 

a  vacant  stare  at  the  offender.  He  was  fond  of  wearing  full 
dress,  and  usually  did  so  in  good  weather,  for  at  that  time  there 
was  no  bulletin-board  put  up  daily  to  inform  officers  and  crew 
of  the  dress  prescribed. 

We  had  Barbot,  from  the  Sunny  South,  who  spoke  English 
imperfectly,  Waite,  from  Vermont,  Marcy,  a  son  of  a  late  gov- 
ernor of  New  York,  two  young  men  from  Connecticut,  one  of 
wrhom  would  sit  quietly  for  hours  without  uttering  a  word,  and 
then,  prompted  by  inspiration,  would  suddenly  rise,  "  hump  his 
back,"  and  become  Richard  the  Third.  Blobbs  was  from  the 
wilds  of  the  West,  and  Green,  the  assistant  surgeon,  a  well- 
behaved  gentleman  of  studious  habits,  from  one  of  the  New 
England  States. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  May  4,  1838,  we  got  under  way 
from  our  anchorage  off  Pensacola  Navy- Yard  in  company  with 
the  Boston,  another  sloop-of-war.  Getting  under  way  at  that 
time  was  an  affair  of  pomp  and  circumstance.  It  seemed  to 
demand  all  the  noise  possible  :  when  an  ordinary  tone  of  voice 
would  have  been  heard  the  length  of  the  vessel,  a  distance  of 
only  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from  taffrail  to  billet-head,  the 
trumpet,  as  an  emblem  of  authority,  had  to  be  flourished  and 
talked  through,  no  matter  how  impossible  it  was  to  understand 
the  order  thus  delivered.  I  recall  one  occasion  when  the  vessel 
was  about  coming  to  anchor.  The  captain  was  on  deck,  to  see 
that  everything  Avas  done  in  order ;  sail  had  been  shortened  to 
topsails  and  jib,  and  hands  were  stationed  by  both  anchors. 
Then  came  the  mighty  order,  disturbing  an  absolute  quiet,  to 
"  clew  up  the  topsails,"  "  settle  the  halyards,"  "  haul  down  the 
jib,"  "  haul  out  the  spanker,"  and  "  put  the  helm  down,"  to 
bring  the  vessel's  head  to  the  wind.  Then  a  period  of  painful 
stillness  oppressed  the  captain ;  it  wras  broken  by  an  order 
through  the  mighty  trumpet,  directed  to  the  officer  on  the  fore- 
castle, "  Let  go  the  larboard  anchor."  The  officer  on  the  fore- 
castle held  up  his  hand  to  serve  as  an  ear-trumpet,  so  that  he 
might  get  the  full  blast,  and  said,  in  a  loud,  shrill  voice,  "  Did 
you  say  the  starboard  anchor,  sir  ?"     With  another  blast  of  the 

trumpet,  the  captain  piped  out,  "  Larboard  !  larboard,  sir ;  d n 

a  deaf  officer !"     To  prevent  difficulty  from  the  similarity  of 


38  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

sound  there  is  now  no  larboard  side ;  it  has,  through  an  official 
order,  become  the  port  side  instead. 

The  Gulf  of  Mexico  is  usually  a  region  of  calms  and  light 
breezes,  with  now  and  then  a  gale  of  wind  from  the  northeast, 
or,  more  commonly,  a  norther,  which  blows  with  great  fury, 
often  with  a  clear  sky.  At  sunset  we  invariably  sent  down 
top-gallant  and  royal  yards,  and,  if  the  wind  continued  light, 
sent  them  up  again  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Sending 
them  down  was  as  religiously  observed  as  the  orison  of  the  Ma- 
hometan. 

The  distance  to  Vera  Cruz  was  only  eight  hundred  and  fifty 
miles.  After  six  days  at  sea  there  was  visible  in  the  distance, 
some  fifty  miles  from  the  coast-line,  the  magnificent  mountain 
cone  of  Orizaba,  covered  with  snow  from  the  summit  far  down 
its  sides.  The  coast-line  continued  invisible  for  hours ;  how- 
ever, with  a  freshening  sea-breeze  as  we  neared  the  land,  the 
sand-hills  near  the  shore,  and  Vera  Cruz,  and  the  Castle  of  San 
Juan  de  Ulloa  came  above  the  horizon.  During  our  passage  we 
caught  a  dolphin  six  feet  two  inches  in  length, — longer  than  I 
have  since  seen, — but  the  fish  was  very  thin  and  spare.  It  may 
not  be  known  to  landsmen  that  when  a  dolphin  is  cooked  a  piece 
of  silver  is  always  put  in  the  pan  with  it,  under  the  supposition 
that  if  the  fish  is  poisonous  the  silver  will  blacken.  I  do  not 
know  as  to  the  efficacy  of  this  test,  but  I  mention  it,  having 
seen  newspaper  accounts  of  persons  who  died  from  eating  dol- 
phin caught  at  sea.  The  fish  are  never  taken  in  nets,  and  are 
found,  like  sharks,  far  from  land. 

As  we  neared  the  usual  anchorage  we  found  French  vessels 
blockading  the  port.  The  Paixhan  gun,  as  it  was  then  called, 
had  been  partially  introduced  into  the  French  navy  three  or 
four  years  before  this  time.  The  frigate  Gloire,  then  at  anchor, 
had  at  that  time  eight  Paixhan  guns  of  eight  inches  calibre.  A 
French  brig-of-war,  the  Alcibiade,  came  out  to  meet  us,  and 
accompanied  us  to  the  anchorage  at  the  island  of  Sacrificios, 
four  miles  south  of  Vera  Cruz  and  the  Castle  of  San  Juan  de 
Ulloa,  built  upon  a  coral  reef,  which  lies  within  half  a  mile  and 
to  seaward  of  the  city. 

The  wrater  was  quite  clear  and  blue,  and  from  the  foreyard 


TURTLES.  39 

any  danger  could  be  distinctly  seen,  the  sea  usually  breaking  at 
a  depth  of  several  fathoms.  Although  at  Sacrificios  the  actual 
shelter  from  the  reefs  is  not  very  great,  and  a  heavy  sea  rolls 
inside  and  from  far  beyond  the  reefs  upon  which  the  Castle  of 
San  Juan  is  built,  there  is  no  instance  to  my  knowledge  of  a 
vessel  breaking  adrift  from  her  anchors.  The  island  derives  its 
name  from  having  been  employed  by  the  native  Mexicans  in 
sacrificing  human  victims  before  the  Spaniards  visited  their 
shores.  It  is  a  mere  patch  of  sand,  having  hardly  a  green  sprig 
upon  it,  and  no  animal  life  save  a  few  lizards.  It  was,  never- 
theless, an  agreeable  spot  for  me  to  visit ;  especially  interesting 
were  the  reefs,  that  were  barely  awash,  and  swept  at  times  by 
waves  of  some  height  and  force.  To  seaward  the  water  is  many 
fathoms  deep,  and,  being  quite  clear,  numbers  of  fishes,  among 
others  the  large  and  gorgeous  parrot-fish,  could  be  seen  quite 
close  to  the  reef,  feeding  on  the  barnacles  and  other  shell-fish 
that  attach  themselves  to  the  rocks.  In  a  service  of  a  year  and 
a  half  afloat  in  that  region,  I  recall  no  other  spot  of  so  much 
interest  to  me  as  this  island,  and  another  small  one  known 
as  Green  Island,  lying  two  miles  to  seaward.  It  derived  its 
name  from  a  few  green  bushes  growing  upon  it,  and  is  similar 
in  its  surroundings  to  the  island  of  Sacrificios.  The  seas  that 
roll  in  on  the  reefs  were  so  fresh  and  cheery  to  a  youth  willing 
to  wade  out  upon  them,  and  to  be  occasionally  knocked  off  his 
pins  and  sent  flying  into  the  quiet  lagoon  with  them,  that  I  recall 
my  joy  of  years  ago  with  satisfaction.  I  discovered  that  the 
lagoons  within  the  reefs  on  both  islands  were  a  favorite  resort 
for  young  green  turtles,  and  occasionally  got  permission  to  take 
a  boat's  crew  and  have  a  turtle-drive.  The  men  were  placed 
at  intervals  across  the  mouth  of  the  lagoon,  armed  with  board- 
ing-pikes, and  advancing  towards  the  head,  where  it  narrowed 
and  shoaled,  speared  a  number  of  them  at  first  in  the  shoaler 
water  as  they  endeavored  to  pass.  It  was  curious  to  observe 
the  intelligence  shown  by  these  animals,  after  having  been 
driven  several  times;  they  would  make  a  break  for  the  deep 
sea  before  we  could  embay  them  in  the  shoaler  and  narrower 
waters. 

By  the  time  we  reached  Vera  Cruz  our  sea-fare  had  been  such 


40  THE  OLD  NAVF  AND   THE  NEW. 

as  to  sharpen  the  appetite  greatly.  It  consisted  of  a  bushel  or 
more  of  decaying  potatoes,  very  old  sea-biscuit  honey-combed  by 
insects,  but  if  wetted  and  then  baked  to  a  crisp,  after  the  pro- 
prietors had  been  ejected,  it  was  eatable  when  helped  down  by 
the  "sauce  of  San  Bernardo," — hunger.  Tea,  bad  enough  in 
itself,  was  not  made  better  when  a  very  indifferent  quality  of 
brown  sugar  was  used  as  "  sweetening."  Were  the  tea  rejected, 
the  foul  water  from  the  casks  was  all  we  had  to  fall  back  upon 
to  quench  thirst.  During  the  voyage  the  caterer  had  given  us 
an  ideal  gastronomic  treat,  realizable  only  after  reaching  Vera 
Cruz.  The  morning  after  the  ship  anchored  he  went  to  the  city 
in  the  market-boat  with  our  mess-boy.  The  boat  did  not  re- 
turn until  some  time  after  our  ordinary  breakfast-hour.  Hungry 
youths  impatiently  awaited  its  arrival.  At  length  the  caterer 
stood  upon  the  deck,  and  with  a  countenance  beaming  with  satis- 
faction, said,  "  Oh,  I  have  such  a  nice  lot  of  alligator-pears  !" 
Hungry  enough,  we  awaited  the  serving  of  a  breakfast  consisting 
of  indifferent  beef,  good  oranges  and  bananas,  and  an  abundance 
of  "alligator-pears."  Of  course  our  wretched  tea  and  brown 
sugar  formed  a  part  of  it.  Our  messmate  Dave  asked  why  the 
bread  was  not  put  upon  the  table,  and  was  informed  by  the 
caterer,  in  the  blandest  tone,  "  that  he  could  get  bread  at  Pensa- 
cola."  "  Pensacola  !"  shouted  Dave ;  "  why,  Pensacola  is  eight 
hundred  miles  away  !"  The  caterer  explained  that  when  we  were 
at  Pensacola  bread  was  obtainable  and  alligator-pears  were  not, 
but  somehow  that  did  not  seem  to  satisfy  the  present  want  of 
bread ;  the  demand  was  so  universal,  and  so  emphatic,  that 
bread  thereafter  formed  a  part  of  the  marketing  at  Vera  Cruz, 
despite  the  fact  that  alligator-pears  were  not  obtainable  at  Pen- 
sacola. 

The  "  aguacate,"  as  it  is  called  in  Spanish  America,  is  freely 
translated  into  "  alligator,"  and  "  pear"  is  added  from  its  gen- 
eral exterior  resemblance  to  that  fruit.  When  cut  in  two  a  large, 
nearly  round,  seed,  forming  half  of  the  mass,  is  found ;  around 
the  seed,  half  an  inch  or  more  in  thickness,  there  is  a  moder- 
ately soft  substance  which  if  seasoned  with  salt  is  found  in  a 
hot  climate  to  be  a  very  wholesome  and  delicious  substitute  for 
butter.     The  caterer  knew  what  was  good;  he  had  filled  not 


OFF  FOR   TAMPICO.  41 

only  a  basket  with  them  but  a  small  bag  also,  which  the  mess- 
boy  sat  upon  in  the  boat.  The  discovery  of  this  fact,  through  a 
mass  of  crushed  alligator-pears,  seemed  to  whet  the  caterer's 
appetite ;  he  ate  them  voraciously, — as  he  said,  "  to  keep  them 
from  spoiling."  Thus  amply  and  luxuriously  fed,  with  plenty 
of  room  on  the  lockers  "  to  snooze,"  and  so  little  to  do  as  not 
materially  to  interfere  with  his  quiet  habits,  he  greatly  enjoyed 
life,  and  at  times,  after  the  sea-breezes  set  in,  would  promenade 
an  hour  or  more  on  the  port  side  of  the  quarter-deck,  parading 
his  white  pantaloons  and  black  points  before  alluded  to.  During 
one  of  these  dress-parades  he  observed  the  doctor  quite  filled 
with  mirth,  the  more,  perhaps,  as  his  mien  was  generally  grave. 
The  curiosity  of  the  caterer  was  aroused,  and  he  urged  the  doc- 
tor to  tell  what  so  greatly  amused  him ;  for  a  time  the  latter 
evaded  and  refused  the  request,  but  the  caterer  was  so  urgent 
that  at  length  the  doctor  gave  way  to  importunity,  when  prom- 
ised that  the  caterer  would  in  no  wise  become  annoyed  or  an- 
gered. Then  said  the  doctor,  "  Your  walk  so  reminds  me  of 
the  waddling  of  a  goose  that  I  really  cannot  help  laughing  every 
time  I  see  you  promenading."  Quite  forgetful  of  his  promise, 
— indeed,  entirely  regardless  of  it, — the  caterer  got  angry,  and 
never  thereafter  felt  quite  reconciled  to  the  doctor.  This  lack 
of  faith  preyed  upon  the  doctor,  and,  suffering  under  misplaced 
confidence,  he  disclosed  to  the  writer  the  utterly  unreasonable 
conduct  of  the  caterer. 

The  anchorage  off  Sacrificios  was  not  without  its  attractions , 
in  addition  to  the  turtle-drives,  the  ceaseless  roar  of  the  surf  on 
the  reefs,  coming  in  the  stillness  of  the  night,  undisturbed  by 
other  sound,  the  usual  quiet  aspect  of  the  skies,  and  the  first 
sight  of  the  constellation  of  the  Southern  Cross  above  the  hori- 
zon, were  all  sources  of  gratification  to  a  young  traveller,  who 
found  even  the  smell  of  the  mould  that  in  the  tropics  comes  off 
with  the  land-breeze,  and  the  light  nightly  showers  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  rainy  season,  interesting  aspects  of  nature. 

After  lying  at  anchor  for  five  weeks,  we  got  under  way  for 
the  anchorage  off  Tampico,  and  arrived  after  a  voyage  of  four 
days.  The  usual  depth  of  water  on  the  bar  is  twelve  feet ;  as 
there  is  a  considerable  discharge  of  water  from  the  river  and  an 


42  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

ocean-swell  meeting  it,  the  bar  is  at  times  very  rough,  and  many 
persons  attempting  to  cross  it  in  boats  have  been  drowned. 

I  was  sent  in  charge  of  a  boat,  and  on  crossing  saw  for  the 
first  time  the  back  fins  of  a  number  of  sharks  lying  in  wait  for 
what  they  could  pick  up.  They  were  known  to  be  quite  as  fond 
of  seizing  a  man  as  the  fish  frequenting  the  entrance,  which 
was  their  ordinary  diet.  After  crossing  we  had  a  pull  of  about 
six  miles  up  the  river,  to  the  town  of  Tampico,  where  I  landed 
the  one-eyed  purser,  and  was  directed  to  go  off  to  a  small  Ameri- 
can schooner  lying  at  anchor  in  the  stream,  on  board  of  whicfy 
we  would  pass  the  night.  The  cabin  was  small,  and  a  very  sick 
man,  perhaps  with  yellow  fever,  seemed  to  be  about  all  that  it 
would  hold,  and,  as  the  forecastle  was  quite  inadequate  to  accom- 
modate my  boat's  crew,  we  took  up  our  quarters  on  the  deck. 
After  sunset  the  mosquitoes  came  oif  in  swarms,  finding  a  fresh 
supply  of  food  to  prey  upon.  There  was  not  much  rest  for  my 
boat's  crew  or  myself  that  night.  The  sails  of  the  vessel  were 
hoisted,  to  facilitate  her  escape  should  the  town  be  taken  by  a 
besieging  force  during  the  night.  At  the  striking  of  a  bell  every 
quarter  of  an  hour,  the  cry  of  "  alerto,"  from  the  sentries  all 
around  the  town,  could  be  heard.  The  tack  of  the  mainsail 
was  triced  up  ten  or  a  dozen  feet,  forming  a  bight ;  during  the 
night  I  climbed  up  the  mast  and  down  the  hoops  into  the  bight, 
where  I  had  a  comfortable  bed,  but  no  sleep,  for  the  mosquitoes 
pursued  and  found  me.  At  early  daylight  some  one,  quite 
against  my  protests,  lowered  the  tack  and  spilled  me  out  on 
deck.  I  then  took  my  boat's  crew,  pulled  into  the  wharf,  pur- 
chased oranges  and  bananas  for  myself  and  the  men,  and  awaited 
the  arrival  of  the  one-eyed  purser.  After  an  hour  or  two  he 
came  down,  with  the  appearance  of  having  also  suffered  from 
mosquitoes.  When  we  reached  the  mouth  of  the  river  the 
sea  was  rougher  from  a  stiff  breeze  setting  in,  but  we  crossed 
the  bar  without  mishap,  although  we  took  in  a  good  deal  of 
water. 

I  regret  not  being  able  to  give  a  fuller  account  of  Tampico, 
but  may  state  that  I  have  been  told,  by  persons  who  have  seen 
more  of  it,  that  I  could  not  by  any  possibility  have  found  it  a 
subject  of  interest,  had  I  seen  all  the  town  at  its  best. 


A  DUEL  SETTLED.  43 


CHAPTEE    IV. 

Sails  for  Pensacola — Billy  B.  and  Hamilton  G-.,  the  Society  Men — A  Duel 
settled— Fulano — A  Boat  in  a  Norther — Taking  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa  by 
the  French — The  Prince  de  Joinville — A  Weil-Known  and  Popular  Officer 
presents  a  Pig — The  Mess  gives  a  Dinner — A  Temperance  Society — Com- 
mander Uriah  P.  Levy  takes  command  of  the  Vandalia — An  Irate  Landlord 
— Cleopatra's  Barge — Changes  in  the  Wardroom — Lieutenants  Gist  and 
Maffit — The  Fall  of  the  Temperance  Society. 

On  reaching  the  vessel  we  left  at  once  for  Galveston,  and, 
owing  to  calms,  were  actually  ten  days  in  making  a  passage  of 
only  five  hundred  miles.  We  remained  at  anchor  off  that  port 
one  day,  and  were  ten  days  reaching  Pensacola,  a  distance  of 
five  hundred  miles,  arriving  on  the  13th  of  July,  1838. 

Our  society  men,  Billy  B.  and  Hamilton  G.,  went  on  shore 
frequently  ;  being  in  different  watches,  it  was  not  possible  at  all 
times  for  them  to  go  together,  but  they  gave  society  all  the  time 
they  could  spare  from  the  performance  of  their  official  duties. 
When  one  returned,  he  would  have  much  to  say  to  the  other  in 
a  half-mysterious  and  gratulatory  way.  Stretching  out  his  left 
hand  and  laying  the  palm  of  the  other  slowly  upon  it,  Hamilton 
G.  would  say,  in  his  slow  and  cultivated '  drawl,  "  I  saw  her, 
Billy."  Billy  would  smile  blandly,  and,  in  a  low,  half-confiden- 
tial tone,  ask  what  she  said.  "  Oh,  Billy,  I  will  tell  you  all 
some  time."  A  more  self-satisfied  man  could  not  have  been 
found.  When  they  went  on  shore  together,  they  would  usually 
come  on  board  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  altogether  "  too 
full  for  utterance." 

A  few  days  before  sailing  on  a  short  cruise  these  worthies  had 
a  quarrel  on  shore,  and  were  making  preparations  to  fight  a  duel. 
Fulano,  who  was  something  of  a  busybody,  thought  it  worth 
while  to  prevent  it,  which  he  did  by  inviting  the  one  after  the 
other,  when  the  night  was  quite  dark,  under  the  topgallant-fore- 
castle, where  the  second  comer  did  not  know  of  the  presence  of 
any  one  save  the  one  with  whom  he  came.  With  rare  diplo- 
matic skill,  Fulano  referred  to  the  strong  attachment  existing 


44  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

between  Billy  B.,  who  was  the  last  comer,  and  Hamilton  G., 
who  had  kindly  consented  to  await  Fulano's  return,  when  they 
would  smoke  a  cigar  and  talk  over  the  intended  duel.  When 
Fulano  had  thus  placed  them  face  to  face,  although  unseen,  he 
said  he  thought  it  wholly  unnecessary  and  unwise  that  such  de- 
voted friends  should,  in  mere  punctilio,  from  too  nice  a  sense  of 
honor,  be  willing  to  shed  each  other's  blood.  He  informed  them 
that  they  were  both  listening  to  what  he  was  saying,  and  he 
trusted  they  would  make  mutual  apologies,  and  thus  avert  the 
duel  appointed  to  take  place  at  early  daylight.  This  ended  in 
an  immediate  reconciliation,  an  expression  of  mutual  regard  and 
admiration,  and  an  avowal  that,  should  one  or  the  other  have 
fallen,  the  survivor  could  hardly  have  forgiven  himself  for 
having  deprived  the  navy  of  so  brilliant  an  ornament ;  they 
embraced  each  other  warmly,  vowed  that  Fulano  had  become  a 
friend  for  life,  and  there  was  nothing  on  earth  that  they  would  not 
do  to  serve  him.  One  or  two  days  after,  when  at  sea,  Fulano 
sent  a  message  to  Billy  B.  that  he  "  would  be  pleased  to  be 
relieved  from  his  watch  to  go  below  to  get  a  cup  of  tea  ;"  Billy 
B.  sent  a  reply  that  "  there  was  no  relief  in  dog-watches."  The 
mess  regarded  the  conduct  of  Fulano  in  preventing  this  duel  as 
well  meant,  but,  nevertheless,  officious,  uncalled  for,  and  against 
the  best  interests  of  the  service ;  and,  from  what  he  said  to  me 
afterwards,  he  eventually  came  to  the  same  conclusion. 

During  the  more  than  fifty  years  since  this  occurrence,  there 
has  been  a  gradual  change  of  opinion  as  to  the  necessity  of 
duelling  as  a  means  of  maintaining  a  reasonable  courtesy  among 
officers.  In  the  twenty-one  years  that  I  have  passed  on  board  of 
vessels,  although  challenges  have  frequently  occurred,  no  duel  has 
resulted,  from  a  reasonable  consideration  of  the  difficulty  by  the 
seconds.  Bearing  in  mind  the  excellent  advice  given  me  by  Mr. 
Hamer  when  he  brought  me  to  the  sea-coast  to  join  a  vessel, — 
namely,  to  avoid  being  insulting,  and  never  submit  to  an  insult, — 
I  have  never  received  a  challenge  nor  have  I  ever  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  send  one.  I  have,  nevertheless,  been  a  second  several  times, 
with  the  happy  result  of  composing  the  difficulties  without  the 
actual  use  of  pistols  or  other  weapons.  As  duelling  is  no  longer 
tolerated  in  our  naval  service,  the  settling  of  difficulties   has 


A   BOAT  IN  A  NORTHER.  45 

brought  about  a  system  of  arbitration  which  possibly  may  not 
always  be  satisfactory  to  an  aggrieved  party,  but  at  all  events 
must  be  relatively  more  so  than  a  demand  from  a  quarrelsome 
person  in  his  cups  for  "  satisfaction/'  when  his  conduct  had  been 
such  as  to  lead  to  a  possible  discourtesy  or  an  avoidance  of  him 
which  he  would  construe  into  an  insult,  or  from  actual  discour- 
tesies growing  out  of  differences  of  opinion  or  other  causes. 

The  cruise  was  to  be  one  of  only  about  six  weeks ;  our  old 
captain  had  left  the  ship  ;  Commodore  Dallas  hoisted  his  flag 
on  board,  and  the  first  lieutenant  served  as  captain,  although 
remaining  in  the  wardroom  mess.  We  arrived  at  Vera  Cruz 
in  about  ten  days,  and  a  day  or  two  after  anchoring  had  a  very 
severe  norther.  At  nine  a.m.  the  weather  was  charming ;  the 
third  cutter  left  for  Vera  Cruz  on  some  duty,  but  had  not  got 
three  miles  from  the  ship  when  a  thin  white  arch  was  visible  in 
the  north,  which  arose  rapidly;  then  came  a  frisky  breeze, 
ruffling  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  in  a  few  minutes  it  was  so 
fresh  that  the  boat  could  no  longer  make  headway  against  it. 
It  was  necessary  to  bear  away  and  run,  nearly  before  the  wind, 
for  the  ship.  The  mast  was  stepped,  a  lug-sail  hooked  on  to 
the  halyards  and  hoisted  only  three  feet,  and  the  boat  ran  before 
the  wind,  but  the  seas  were  more  rapid  in  movement,  and  broke 
over  the  stern.  A  little  more  of  the  sail  was  hoisted,  and  the 
boat  fairly  flew  over  the  rough  seas.  She  was  reported  to  the 
first  lieutenant  as  coming  down  under  a  heavy  press  of  sail ;  he 
rushed  forward,  and  alternately  waved  his  trumpet  over  his 
head  as  a  sign,  and  yelled  through  it.  In  the  roar  of  the  wind 
and  of  the  sea  it  was  a  vain  attempt :  only  those  by  his  side 
could  hear  the  order,  "Lower  your  sail,  sir."  Perhaps  the 
waving  of  the  trumpet  was  unseen  by  the  officer  of  the  boat, 
even  when  close  to  the  bow  of  the  ship ;  then  the  sail  was 
quickly  lowered,  the  mast  unstepped,  the  oars  got  out,  and  the 
boat  rounded  to  by  the  helm  close  under  the  stern,  and  the 
officer  and  boat's  crew  ascended  by  one  of  the  "  Jacob's  ladders" 
that  are  carried  suspended  to  the  quarters  on  board  of  vessels 
of  war.  An  attempt  to  bring  a  boat  alongside  in  such  a  wind 
and  sea  would  have  ended  in  the  loss  of  the  boat  and  her  crew. 
There  is  no  one  quality  so  necessary  to  safety  afloat  as  common 


46  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

sense,  and  Bertody  had  that,  but  had  seen  little  service  at  sea. 
The  boat  was  moored  by  a  tow-line  to  each  quarter,  and  yet  was 
swamped  by  the  force  of  the  gale.  The  Yandalia  let  go  a  sheet- 
anchor,  sent  down  topgallant-masts,  and  lower  yards,  and  housed 
topmasts,  and  in  a  very  short  time  too.  In  those  seas  at  that  time 
mast-pennants  were  kept  rove,  and  "  jeer  falls"  got  up  and  hooked, 
when  at  anchor,  so  the  force  of  the  gale  made  little  hinderance 
to  sending  down  spars  and  housing  masts. 

During  our  absence  from  Vera  Cruz  in  the  early  summer,  the 
French  had  attacked  and  taken  the  castle  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa. 
The  Prince  de  Joinville  at  that  time  commanded  a  brig-of-war, 
and  was  said  to  have  shown  great  skill  as  a  seaman,  as  well 
as  other  high  qualities  of  an  officer  in  the  attack.  He  was  then 
quite  a  youth, — and  that  is  a  long  time  ago. 

After  a  few  days  at  anchor,  we  left  for  Tampico,  and  found 
off  that  port  a  French  brig-of-war  blockading,  and  one  of  our 
brigs-of-war  at  anchor.  John  Junius  Boyle  was  her  first  lieu- 
tenant, and  soon  came  on  board.  He  was  a  heavily-built  man, 
with  a  humorous  expression  of  countenance,  and  his  "  sayings" 
are  more  quoted  now  than  those  of  any  other  officer  known  to 
me.  After  reaching  the  deck,  he  partially  unbuttoned  his  coat, 
and  took  from  within  it  a  small  pig,  of  which  he  said  many 
pleasant  things,  holding  it  in  both  hands  before  him,  and  ad- 
dressed his  conversation  to  our  first  lieutenant,  who  had  come 
on  deck  to  receive  him.  The  pig  seemed  to  appreciate  the  com- 
pliments paid,  as  it  remained  entirely  passive  or  gave  an  occa- 
sional grunt  of  satisfaction.  The  speech  was  one  of  presentation 
of  the  pig,  not  as  a  beast  to  be  slaughtered,  but  as  an  animal  of 
rare  intelligence,  who  would  delight  the  hearts  of  all  and  would 
become  so  ingratiated  in  the  affections  of  every  one  "  that  he 
would  be  found  in  everybody's  mess  and  in  nobody's  watch." 
At  length  the  pig  was  placed  upon  the  deck,  and  at  once  seemed 
to  be  at  home. 

Boyle  went  below,  and,  after  spending  an  hour  or  so,  came 
on  deck  and  went  over  the  side,  informing  our  first  lieutenant 
that  "he  had  the  candle  of  existence  lighted  at  both  ends." 
Notwithstanding  the  improvident  use  he  made  of  his  "  candle," 
it  did  not  burn  out  until  August,  1870. 


THE  MESS  GIVES  A  DINNER.  47 

The  pig  lived  in  great  luxury  for  some  months,  and  then  died 
by  accident,  due  to  its  sympathetic  disposition.  In  hoisting  a 
cask,  it  slipped  and  fell  upon  the  pig.  The  sailors  had  made  it 
a  hammock,  in  which  it  always  slept ;  when  it  wished  to  be  put 
in  it  or  taken  out,  a  squeal  would  at  once  bring  an  attendant. 
It  showed  wonderful  sagacity,  was  "  in  everybody's  mess  and  in 
nobody's  watch,"  and,  had  it  not  been  in  attendance  when  the 
casks  were  hoisted,  might  have  "  lived  in  peace,  and  died  in  its 
own  grease,"  for  it  was  very  fat. 

Our  mess  gave  a  dinner  to  the  midshipmen  on  board  of  the 
French  blockading  brig.  It  could  hardly  be  called  a  banquet 
nor  a  feast,  but  certainly  there  was  an  abundance  of  whiskey. 
Nothing  unusually  frisky  occurred  during  the  presence  of  our 
visitors,  but  after  they  left  the  festivities  of  the  table  were 
resumed. 

Hamilton  G.,  all  radiant  with  satisfaction,  as  full  as  a  jug,  and 
yet  with  a  goblet  of  whiskey  and  water  in  his  hand,  that  he 
hoped  "  to  worry  down,"  stood  up  and,  somewhat  incoherently, 
said,  "  Gentlemen,  I  will  trouble  you  to  rise ;  I  have  a  toast  to 
propose  that  should  be  drunk  standing."  The  request  to  rise 
was  complied  with,  and  he  added,  "  Now,  gentlemen,  I  propose 
the  health  of  Frank  Key  and  Henry  Clay,  my  future  guardians." 

"  Bravo !"  shouted  Billy  B. ;  "  of  course  we  will,"  and  he 
smiled  and  nodded  approvingly. 

After  the  lapse  of  some  minutes  and  the  telling  of  some 
stories  supposed  suitable  to  the  occasion,  Hamilton  G.  again 
claimed  the  attention  of  the  festive  board.  He  said  he  had  a 
toast  to  propose,  which  he  hoped  all  would  honor  with  a  bumper ; 
he  wished  them  to  drink  it  standing,  and  again  gave  "  the  health 
of  Frank  Key  and  Henry  Clay,  his  future  guardians." 

"  Why,  d n  it,"  said  Billy  B.,  "  we  have  just  drunk  a  toast 

to  them !" 

"  Well,  what  of  that  ?"  said  Hamilton  G.  in  a  tone  of  offended 
dignity;  "  you  cannot  do  better  than  to  drink  to  my  future 
guardians  again." 

Billy  B.  bridled  up  and  refused ;  this  led  to  a  wrangle,  and 
finally  he  walked  around  the  table,  and  with  a  blow  of  his  fist 
made  his  dear  friend  "  carry  a  stiff  upper  lip"  for  some  days. 


48  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

It  swelled  out  to  a  level  with  the  end  of  his  nose,  and  gave 
him  a  very  eomical  appearance. 

At  the  usual  time  of  inspection  at  quarters,  the  lieutenant  of 
Hamilton  G.'s  division  not  being  on  deck,  that  worthy  walked 
aft  to  report.  His  heavy  load  of  liquor  made  his  legs  sag 
greatly,  and  his  staggering  gait,  blear  eyes,  and  bunged  lip  were 
too  much  for  the  first  lieutenant  to  pass  over,  and  he  suspended 
him  from  duty  and  sent  him  below.  This  treatment  stirred  to 
its  depths  the  virtuous  indignation  of  Hamilton  G.  He  paced 
up  and  down  the  narrow  apartment,  with  one  hand  extended 
and  the  palm  of  the  other  hand  placed  upon  it  from  time  to 
time,  and,  with  his  elegant  yawn  and  drawl,  said,  "  I  am  sorry 
for  the  poor  fellow,"  alluding  to  the  officer  who  had  suspended 
him,  "  but  I  will  have  to  write  to  Frank  Key  and  Henry  Clay, 
my  future  guardians,  and  they  will  have  him  dismissed ;  they 
won't  suffer  such  an  indignity  to  be  put  upon  me."  His 
"future  guardians,"  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  were  not 
heard  from. 

We  had  anchored  much  nearer  the  shore  at  Tampico  than  on 
our  former  visit,,  and  saw  with  some  surprise  the  beach  lined 
for  several  hundreds  of  yards  with  large  white  pelicans.  They 
had  black  wings  and  heads,  and,  standing  bolt  upright,  had  the 
appearance  from  a  distance  of  soldiers  on  parade.  At  a  favor- 
able time  of  the  tide,  or  when  schools  of  fishes  appeared,  they 
would  leave  en  masse,  and  nothing  more  would  be  seen  of  them 
until  they  again  rested  in  line  on  the  beach,  ready  to  load  their 
immense  pouches  under  the  beak  with  a  fish  of  several  pounds 
in  weight,  when  they  would  fly  of?  to  feed  their  young.  Along 
the  Florida  coast  and  in  the  less-frequented  parts  of  Pensacola 
Bay  there  were  dozens  of  the  dark  and  smaller  pelicans  to  be 
seen  securing  their  prey.  The  same  species  were  also  seen  on 
the  shores  near  Vera  Cruz,  but  the  large  white  ones  I  have  seen 
on  no  other  shore  than  that  of  Tampico  and  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Rio  Grande. 

We  were  not  sorry  to  leave  for  Pensacola,  for  a  sandy  beach 
covered  at  times  with  a  long  line  of  pelicans  could  not  continue 
to  interest.  Pensacola  was  preferable  j  we  could  at  least  take  a 
walk  and  get  bread  there.     Struck  with  repentance,  it  may  be, 


COMMANDER  LEVY  TAKES  COMMAND  OF  THE  VAN D ALIA.   49 

or  possibly  to  avoid  a  court-martial,  a  temperance  society,  com- 
posed of  those  who  were  in  the  habit  of  drinking  a  considerable 
amount  of  whiskey,  and  having  no  membership  among  those 
who  drank  none,  was  at  once  formed,  and  our  unfortunate  mess- 
mate was  restored  to  duty ;  then  everything  went  on  smoothly 
with  Billy  B.  and  Hamilton  G.  The  members  of  the  society 
were  not  seen  to  drink  any  liquor,  but  bread-puddings  are  a  dry 
kind  of  food  without  good  sauce,  and  as  a  sauce  nothing  seemed  to 
the  members  of  the  temperance  society  so  acceptable  as  whiskey 
and  brown  sugar.  With  abundant  sauce  the  bread-pudding 
was  much  praised,  and  formed  a  considerable  part  of  the  dinner. 
Bets  were  made  as  to  the  day  and  hour  of  our  anchoring  in 
the  harbor,  which  were  invariably  of  brandy  fruit,  usually  of 
cherries,  which  were  esteemed  a  palatable  food.  On  our  arrival 
the  strictly  temperance  men  enjoyed  a  dish  of  this  fruit  greatly  ; 
everybody  knows  that  "  there  are  more  ways  of  killing  a  dog 
than  choking  him  to  death  on  bread-pudding." 

On  the  24th  of  November,  1838,  Commander  Uriah  P.  Levy 
took  command  of  the  Vandalia,  and  the  vessel  soon  after  devel- 
oped into  a  very  lively  "  bear-garden."  He  had  entered  the 
navy  in  1812  as  a  sailing-master,  a  grade  not  then  in  the  line 
of  promotion,  in  1817  was  promoted  to  lieutenant,  and  twenty 
years  later  to  commander.  If  we  suppose  that  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  when  he  entered  the  navy,  he  was  forty-seven 
when  he  took  command  of  the  Vandalia,  and  possibly  some 
years  older.  He  was  below  the  medium  height,  robustly  built, 
had  a  squeaky  voice,  sharp  black  eyes,  and  a  rather  dark  and 
oily  look.  He  was  fussy  in  manner,  and  evidently  desirous  of 
impressing  one  and  all  with  the  idea  "  that  he  was  somebody." 
He  was  not  a  Jew,  because  he  ate  ham  ;  but  that  act  in  itself 
could  not  make  him  a  Christian.  Whatever  I  learned  when 
under  his  command  was  wholly  by  indirection,  and  that  is  not 
only  a  painful  way,  but  often  leads  to  the  development  of  very 
bad  and  uncharitable  qualities. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  Vandalia,  Commander  Levy  had 
been  for  some  days  at  a  hotel  in  Pensacola.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  told  the  landlord  that  some  of  his  effects  had  been  stolen, 
whereupon  the  latter  is  said  to  have  ordered  him  to  leave  the 

4 


50  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

house.  This  report  coming  to  the  ears  of  our  first  lieutenant, 
who  was  of  fiery  temper,  he  went  on  shore  at  once  and  offered 
his  services  to  Commander  Levy,  to  go  with  him  and  put  the 
landlord  to  death.  The  offer  was  respectfully  declined  with 
thanks,  much  to  Levy's  credit.  Ten  or  more  years  later  he 
advocated  the  abolition  of  flogging  in  the  navy,  and  claimed 
to  have  brought  about  this  reform.  It  was,  however,  mainly 
effected  through  the  efforts  of  Commodore  Stockton,  who  had 
resigned  from  the  naval  service,  and  was  then  a  Senator  from 
the  State  of  New  Jersey.  The  abolition  of  flogging  was  a  great 
advance,  and  has  done  more  to  elevate  the  studies  and  character 
of  officers  of  the  navy  than  any  other  one  thing,  simply  by 
denying  them  the  immediate  or  actual  use  of  brute  force  in  the 
training  and  government  of  men. 

Soon  after  taking  command,  Levy  seized  upon  one  of  the 
double-banked  quarter-boats  pulling  twelve  oars,  and  discarded 
the  captain's  gig,  a  single-banked  boat  pulling  six  oars.  He 
called  her  the  "  Cleopatra's  barge."  As  he  commanded  the 
Vandalia,  and  could  not  by  any  possibility  pass  for  Cleopatra, 
even  in  disguise,  it  indicates  that  in  acquiring  "  Parisian  French" 
he  had  forgotten  his  mother-tongue, — just  like  many  persons 
who  pass  some  time  in  Paris  at  the  present  day.  The  "  Cleo- 
patra's barge"  had  a  blue-and-gold  streak  painted  around  her 
near  the  water-line,  and  a  very  long  pennant-staff  with  a  large 
brass  star  surmounting  it  was  stepped  in  the  bow  when  the  boat 
left  the  ship.  The  pose  of  the  occupant  on  such  occasions  was 
so  consequential  as  to  be  ridiculous. 

Before  we  went  to  sea  again,  quite  a  number  of  changes  took 
place  in  the  officers  of  the  wardroom.  Among  others,  our  cap- 
tain's clerk  left,  his  place  being  supplied'  by  a  gentlemanly  little 
native  of  the  soil  of  Florida,  with  hair  and  eyebrows  quite 
silvery,  like  the  sand  on  the  shore.  While  the  clerk  that  left 
was  a  negative  loss,  the  one  who  came  was  a  positive  gain.  If 
his  object  in  coming  to  sea  was  to  visit  foreign  lands,  he  was 
favored,  so  far  as  being  able  to  go  to  Vera  Cruz  at  the  risk  of 
dying  with  the  yellow  fever,  and  of  visiting  my  favorite  spots, 
Green  and  Sacrificios  Islands.  Besides  these  advantages,  he 
got  a  sight  of  the  land  at  the  entrance  of  the  Rio  Bravo,  and 


THE  FALL  OF  THE   TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY.  51 

was  actually  within  four  miles  of  it,  and  saw  the  white  pelicans 
on  the  sand-beach  at  Tampico,  and,  by  going  aloft  when  we 
were  at  anchor  off  Galveston,  was  able  to  see  the  sand-beach 
upon  which  were  built  the  houses  whose  roofs  were  plainly  in 
sight  from  the  deck. 

Lieutenant  Spencer  C.  Gist  and  Acting  Lieutenant  John  N. 
Maffit  were  among  those  who  came  into  the  wardroom,  of  whom 
I  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter.  We  had  also  a  passed  mid- 
shipman of  Maffit's  date,  who  became  our  messmate,  and  was 
as  unlike  him  as  possible.  He  was  long,  sallow,  stupid,  and 
selfish ;  by  what  means  or  hidden  influences  he  was  invested 
with  the  uniform  of  a  passed  midshipman  has  always  been  a 
puzzle  to  me.  After  our  commander  joined  us  we  lay  at  anchor 
three  months  off  Pensacola. 

Soon  after  reaching  port,  the  absence  of  bread-puddings  and 
the  unreasonable  cost  of  brandy  fruit  gradually  undermined  the 
temperance  society,  which  tottered  and  fell.  Billiard-rooms  with 
gaudy  fittings  and  appendages  were  among  the  attractions  of 
Pensacola,  and  during  these  three  months  at  anchor  were  much 
visited  by  the  officers  of  the  Vandalia  and  of  the  other  vessels-of- 
war  in  the  harbor.  The  proprietor  of  one  of  them  had  several 
large  hounds  that  were  quite  at  home,  and  were  on  the  lookout 
for  crackers  thrown  to  them  by  the  visitors.  One  evening  our 
bow-legged  messmate,  with  cue  in  hand,  had  struck  an  elegant 
posture,  with  feet  apart,  when  a  hound,  intent  on  securing  a 
cracker,  ran  between  his  legs  and  very  nearly  threw  him  down. 
This  greatly  enraged  him,  and  he  indulged  in  expressions  that 
may  be  imagined  but  not  repeated.  After  that  occurrence  our 
messmate  Dave  observed  that  some  of  our  towels  that  were 
usually  hung  up  over  our  lockers  were  no  longer  to  be  found. 
He  remarked  also  an  apparent  change  in  the  external  appear- 
ance of  the  bow  legs  before  mentioned.  From  a  simple  exter- 
nal view  they  appeared  to  have  received  a  considerable  growth 
or  accession  on  the  inside,  that  partially  filled  the  considerable 
space  between  them.  Out  of  pure  delicacy,  I  suppose,  no  in- 
quiry was  made  as  to  the  apparent  change  of  figure  of  the 
individual,  nor  as  to  what  had  become  of  the  towels  that  from 
time  to  time  had  disappeared  from  the  hammock-hooks.     How 


52  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

they  were  secured,  to  effect  the  apparent  change  of  anatomy, 
we  never  knew.  Perhaps  even  Billy  B.  was  never  taken  into 
the  confidence  of  his  dear  friend  in  this  matter.  I  don't  know 
that  the  shape  of  the  man  was  more  comely,  but  one  thing  was 
evident, — there  was  less  space  for  a  dog  to  pass  between  his 
legs,  and  after  that  change  we  heard  of  no  attempt  of  one  to  do  so. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Sails  from  Pensacola — Getting  over  the  Bar — Bagdad — Trouble  in  getting 
"Water — "Pooh!  pooh!"  from  the  Captain — Drilling  at  a  Great  Gun  — 
Under  "Way  for  the  Mexican  Coast — Lieutenant  Gist's  Lawyer's  Fee  in 
Tennessee — Drowning  of  Lieutenant  Paul — Arrival  at  Vera  Cruz — Col- 
lision with  a  French  Brig-of-War,  with  Loss  of  Life — The  Author,  chased 
by  a  Bull,  takes  to  the  "Water — Getting  rid  of  an  Unpleasant  Messmate — 
Hamilton  G.  "  in  Trouble" — The  South  Pass  of  the  Mississippi — A  "Water- 
Spout. 

With  our  new  officers,  we  left  the  delights  of  Pensacola  on 
the  3d  of  February,  on  the  7th  and  8th  had  a  heavy  northeast 
gale,  and  nine  days  after  sailing  anchored  in  nine  fathoms  of 
water  twelve  sea  miles  northeast  by  north  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Rio  Bravo.  We  anchored  with  a  large  hawser  and  kedge,  in- 
stead of  a  bow-anchor,  and  close-reefed  the  topsails  and  foresail, 
prepared  for  heavy  weather,  which  at  that  season  of  the  year 
frequently  came  without  any  indication  of  the  change. 

When  we  left  Pensacola,  we  had  on  board  a  little  less  than 
ten  thousand  gallons  of  fresh  water  for  the  voyage.  On  leaving 
port,  we  were  at  once  put  on  an  allowance  of  three  quarts  a  day 
per  man,  which  made  a  daily  expenditure  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  gallons,  and  at  that  rate  a  supply  for  seventy  days. 
The  captain's  cabin  had  a  liberal  supply  of  small  casks  in  the 
pantry,  which,  being  filled  before  sailing,  made  the  addition  of 
three  quarts  per  day  for  the  captain  and  his  servants  rather  a 
nominal  than  a  close  allowance.  Although  anchored  with 
stream-cable  and  a  kedge,  and  close-reefing  the  topsails  before 


GETTING   OVER   THE  BAR.  53 

furling  them,  we  hoisted  out  the  launch,  put  the  water-casks  in 
her,  to  pull  twelve  miles,  cross  the  bar,  and  then  to  recross  it 
when  deeply  laden.  On  now  referring  to  the  charts,  it  is  seen 
that  we  could  have  safely  anchored  at  a  distance  of  three  miles 
from  the  bar. 

Billy  B.  was  the  senior  midshipman,  and,  by  usage  in  the 
service,  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  launch.  On  being 
called  for  that  duty,  he  said  he  was  suffering  from  a  liver  ail- 
ment, and  when  asked  the  seat  of  pain,  his  liver  was  foundto 
be  on  the  wrong  side.  He  was  very  badly  contrived  in  every 
way,  and  his  liver  may  have  been  improperly  located. 

The  honor  of  commanding  the  launch  was  then  conferred 
upon  me,  and  at  about  three  o'clock,  or  perhaps  a  little  earlier, 
we  left  the  ship,  with  the  certainty  of  not  being  able  to  reach 
the  bar  until  after  dark.  The  boat  could  not  make  four  knots 
an  hour  in  a  long  pull,  and  we  were  twelve  marine  miles  away. 
The  water,  fortunately,  was  smooth,  but  the  night  was  dark  and 
threatening.  We  had  an  ordinary  ship's  lantern  and  some 
matches  that  would  not  ignite,  and,  as  we  could  not  steer  by 
compass  with  advantage,  we  pulled  in  until  we  could  see  the 
breakers  on  the  beach,  and  then  tried  to  pull  along  parallel  to 
them.  After  rowing  along  the  coast  rather  slowly  for  an  hour 
or  more,  it  was  quite  dark ;  all  at  once  the  cockswain  exclaimed, 
"  Good  God,  sir,  look  there  !"  On  the  port  quarter  of  the  boat  a 
heavy  breaker  was  rolling  in  upon  us ;  the  helm  was  put  hard- 
a-port,  and  the  oars  used  to  get  the  boat  before  the  sea,  which 
luckily  was  done,  and  in  we  went,  through  and  with  the  surf,  as 
we  at  first  supposed  on  an  open  beach.  After  reaching  a  low  sand- 
beach  upon  which  the  bow  struck  lightly,  we  found  the  water 
agitated,  but  no  longer  rough.  We  had  actually  crossed  the 
bar  and  were  in  the  mouth  of  the  river.  As  would  naturally 
be  supposed,  the  waters  of  the  river  had  pushed  the  bar  out 
beyond  the  line  of  coast-breakers,  and  thus  we  had  become 
embayed  and  crossed  a  very  dangerous  bar,  without  accident, 
by  the  merest  chance.  We  rowed  the  boat  several  hundred 
yards  within  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  made  her  fast  to  the 
shore,  on  the  right  bank,  where  a  few  huts  were  seen  on  the  site 
of  the  present  town  known  as  Bagdad. 


54  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Several  of  the  inhabitants  came  down,  such  as  get  their  living 
by  supplying  the  wants  and  luxuries  of  seamen  j  they  pointed 
out  an  unoccupied  carpenter's  shop  near  by,  and  suggested  that 
it  would  be  a  comfortable  place  for  us  to  pass  the  night.  After 
making  a  detail  of  the  cockswain  and  four  men  to  remain  by 
the  boat  and  fill  the  casks  with  water  during  the  night,  I  took 
the  remainder  of  the  crew  and  went  to  the  shop.  By  virtue  of 
my  rank,  I  cleared  off  the  carpenter's  bench,  put  my  pistols  and 
pea-jacket  under  my  head  for  a  pillow,  and  soon  went  to  sleep, 
intending  to  get  up  at  early  daylight  and  prevent  the  men  from 
getting  drunk.  That  was  a  vain  idea ;  they  had  taken  time  by 
the  forelock  and  had  got  drunk  the  night  before,  or  sufficiently 
so  to  require  little  more  in  the  morning  to  complete  the  job. 
As  soon  as  it  was  light,  I  aroused  the  men  in  the  shop  and 
started  down  to  the  boat  with  them.  As  we  went  along,  a  tall, 
gawky  fellow  named  McKinney,  with  pop-eyes,  looking  as 
though  he  were  being  choked,  started  for  the  village.  I  ordered 
him  back,  but  he  kept  on ;  then  I  drew  my  sword  and  went 
after  him.  He  at  once  begged  that  I  would  not  kill  him ;  I 
assured  him  that  I  would  assume  an  innocuous  desuetude  (per- 
haps not  in  those  words)  if  he  would  obey  my  order  and  go  at 
once  to  the  boat,  which  he  did  promptly. 

On  getting  to  the  boat,  I  found  nothing  whatever  had  been 
done  towards  filling  the  casks  with  water,  and  we  at  once  dili- 
gently set  to  work  filling  them ;  but,  having  only  one  funnel, 
this  took  perhaps  two  hours.  As  soon  as  they  were  filled,  we 
shoved  off;  the  water  on  the  bar  was  unusually  smooth,  so  in 
passing  out  we  shipped  only  a  few  buckets  of  water;  with 
twelve  miles  to  pull,  and  half-drunken  men,  it  was  near  noon 
bef  re  we  got  alongside. 

The  officer  of  the  deck  had  been  directed  to  send  me  forth- 
with to  the  captain's  cabin,  and  thither  I  wTent,  not  in  a  very 
amiable  or  conciliatory  mood.  The  captain  said,  in  his  quer- 
ulous, squeaky  voice,  "  Why  did  you  stay  so  long,  sir  ?  Why 
did  you  not  come  out  last  night?"  I  replied,  because  we  had 
crossed  the  bar  going  in,  with  great  risk  to  our  lives ;  in  fact, 
that  the  boat  had  not  capsized  was  purely  accidental.  To  this 
he  said,  "  Pooh  !  pooh  !"     I  informed  him  that  had  he  been  in 


DRILLING  AT  A    GREAT  GUN.  55 

the  boat  he  would  not  have  pooh-poohed  at  all.  He  said  that 
he  had  me  "  foul,"  a  well-understood  if  not  an  elegant  expres- 
sion, in  use  by  seamen,  and  perhaps  sometimes  by  policemen. 
I  replied  that  I  had  not  been  ordered  to  return  in  the  night, 
and,  had  such  an  order  been  given  me,  I  would  not  have  obeyed 
it ;  that  I  would  not  expose  the  lives  of  men  placed  under  my 
command  without  any  necessity  for  doing  so.  He  told  me  he 
would  try  me  by  court-martial  and  break  me,  and  I  said  that 
when  I  did  anything  contrary  to  naval  law  I  hoped  he  would, 
whereupon  he  ordered  me  out  of  his  cabin.  From  that  time 
forth,  up  to  November,  when  the  vessel  went  out  of  commission 
at  Norfolk,  no  compliments  passed  between  us,  but  quite  a 
number  of  conversations  of  the  same  strain  as  the  above ;  yet, 
for  some  reason,  he  never  ventured  to  suspend  me.  His  con- 
duct and  language  gave  me  no  concern,  as  I  felt  abundantly 
able  to  deal  with  him  in  his  own  coin,  and  indeed  did  so  as  long 
as  I  was  under  his  command. 

Watering  ship  at  this  disadvantage  of  distance  and  great  risk 
to  life  was  kept  up  for  six  days,  happily  without  the  capsizing 
of  a  boat, — when  it  was  a  question  of  getting  specie  safely  on 
board.  On  February  19  we  shifted  our  anchorage  to  a  bearing 
of  east-northeast  from  the  bar,  and  at  a  distance  of  six  miles 
therefrom.  We  could  just  as  well  have  anchored  east  of  the  bar 
within  three  miles  of  it,  and  sent  a  boat  just  outside  of  it  to 
rescue  drowning  men  should  another  boat  in  crossing  the  bar  be 
capsized.  The  force  of  the  current  would  send  the  swamped 
boat  and  crew  through  the  breakers,  but  whether  the  sharks  would 
not  seize  upon  the  men  before  their  shipmates  could  rescue  them 
would  be  a  doubtful  matter.  Lieutenants  Gist  and  Maffit  were 
sent  in  after  the  specie,  and  were  detained  a  day  or  two  by  the 
roughness  of  the  bar.  They  reached  the  vessel  with  the  money 
on  the  21st.  Seven  of  the  boat's  crew  had  deserted.  We  then 
left  for  the  Southwest  Pass  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

The  midshipmen  at  one  time  and  another  were  ordered  to  drill 
at  a  great  gun  ;  this  was  performed  in  full  dress,  with  cocked 
hat  and  sword,  as  a  voluntary  tribute  to  so  grand  an  occasion. 
When  ordered  to  exercise  the  mizzen-topsail  in  reefing  and  furl- 
ing, full  dress  was  dispensed  with ;  the  sword  certainly  would 


56  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

have  been  embarrassing  if  worn  in  reefing  and  furling,  and  the 
cocked  hat  would  have  seemed  out  of  place.  Maffit  was  officer 
of  the  deck,  the  long  and  lank  passed  midshipman  in  the  top, 
Dave,  being  large  and  strong,  had  the  weather  earing  in  reefing, 
and  Blobbs  the  lee  one.  When  making  a  close  reef,  Blobbs 
hailed  the  deck,  and  expressed  a  doubt  as  to  whether  the  earing 
was  properly  hauled  out ;  the  lank  man  in  the  top  was  ordered 
out  on  the  yard,  to  give  personal  instruction.  This  he  was  not 
disposed  to  do ;  he  told  Blobbs  to  keep  silence,  and  reported  to 
the  officer  of  the  deck  that  the  earing  was  all  right.  This  excited 
the  ire  of  Blobbs,  who  became  abusive,  and  told  him  to  come 
out  on  the  yard-arm  if  he  dared ;  that  he  would  seize  him  by 
the  back  of  the  neck  and  throw  him  overboard  into  the  sea,  like 
a  sick  kitten.  Such  talk  naturally  made  a  coolness  between  the 
long,  cadaverous  passed  midshipman  and  the  little,  dried-up,  chol- 
eric aspirant  for  naval  glory,  but  no  fight  or  duel  came  out  of  it. 

With  such  diversions,  and  heavy  weather  for  a  day  or  so,  we 
passed  along  on  our  voyage,  and  anchored  off  the  Southwest  Pass 
on  the  29th  of  February.  The  following  day  the  tug-boat 
Tiger  came  out,  and,  although  there  was  a  heavy  rolling  sea,  we 
hoisted  the  specie,  said  to  be  about  one  hundred  thousand  Mexi- 
can dollars,  on  board  the  Tiger,  with  great  risk  of  some  packages 
getting  overboard.  The  commander,  purser,  and  a  passenger  or 
so,  who  had  come  with  the  money,  then  left  in  the  tow-boat  for 
New  Orleans. 

On  the  4th  of  March  the  officers  returned,  and  the  next  day 
we  got  under  way  for  the  Mexican  coast.  Lieutenant  Gist  had 
the  watch  from  eight  to  midnight,  and  I  was  officer  of  the  fore- 
castle ;  we  had  a  good,  fresh  breeze  on  the  port  quarter,  and  with 
the  fore-topmast  studding-sail  set,  made  some  nine  or  ten  knots 
an  hour,  which  was  the  most  the  vessel  could  do  from  the  ex- 
treme foulness  of  her  bottom.  We  had  a  bright  moon,  and  were 
going  along  charmingly ;  I  was  hailed  to  come  aft,  and  on  reach- 
ing the  poop,  where  Gist  was  standing,  he  asked  me,  in  his 
humorous  way,  if  I  knew  the  most  important  duty  of  a  mid- 
shipman, and  then  added  :  it  was  to  listen  to  what  the  officer  of 
the  deck  should  tell  him,  and  in  that  manner  keep  him  wide 
awake. 


LIEUTENANT  GIST'S  LAWYER'S  FEE  IN  TENNESSEE.      57 

He  then  told  me  one  of  his  inimitably  droll  stories  about  his 
law-practice  in  the  mountains  of  Tennessee,  where  he  was  born, 
and  resided,  when  not  on  duty.  He  said  that,  having  gained  a 
suit,  he  visited  his  client  to  get  his  fees.  On  making  known 
his  object,  the  man  said  he  had  not  a  cent  in  the  world,  but  was 
nevertheless  desirous  of  paying  him,  and,  looking  around  the 
room,  said,  "  There  is  a  clock,  and  a  very  good  one,  too ;  what 
do  you  say  to  taking  that  ?"  As  there  appeared  to  be  no  like- 
lihood of  getting  anything  else,  he  expressed  his  willingness  to 
accept  it.  The  clock  was  taken  down,  and  the  hammer  tied 
with  a  string  to  prevent  it  striking  the  bell,  as  it  did  in  striking 
the  hour,  and  a  cord  Avas  made  use  of  to  secure  the  clock  to  his 
back.  Everything  being  arranged  satisfactorily,  the  man  held 
his  colt,  and  he  mounted  and  started  homeward ;  he  had  gone 
a  mile  or  so  only,  when  the  hammer  worked  loose  and  began 
pounding  on  the  bell ;  this  frightened  the  colt,  which  ran  away, 
and  finally  threw  him  violently,  and  the  clock  was  broken  all 
to  pieces.  The  absurdity  of  the  story  seemed  to  afford  him  an 
ample  recompense,  not  only  for  his  law-services,  but  as  well  for 
the  bodily  injuries  sustained  when  thrown. 

Gist  had  a  face  like  the  full  round  moon,  which  beamed  with 
satisfaction ;  the  ship  rolled  violently,  and  he  barely  escaped 
falling  overboard  by  clinging  to  a  quarter- boat  that  was  topped 
up.  The  trumpet  which  he  had  in  his  hand  went  overboard, 
and,  when  I  told  him  that  he  had  barely  escaped  following  it, 
his  face  was  radiant  with  humor,  as  he  said  that  it  would  not 
have  made  any  difference ;  he  felt  sure  that  I  would  have 
brought  the  ship  by  the  wind  and  picked  him  up.  I  said  that, 
with  a  topmast  studding-sail  set,  it  would  have  taken  some  time, 
and  I  feared  that  he  would  have  drowned.  "Not  at  all,"  said 
he ;  "I  can  swim  ten  miles,  and  it  would  have  been  all  right." 

Five  days  later,  on  the  10th  of  March,  we  were  some  forty 
miles  north  of  Tampico,  and  some  ten  or  more  miles  from  the 
coast-line.  We  had  the  first  watch  again ;  but  the  night  was 
dark  and  cloudy,  especially  over  the  land,  and  the  breeze  quite 
light.  The  spanker  was  set,  which  prevented  Gist  seeing  to 
leeward,  the  vessel  being  headed  to  the  southward  and  the  wind 
easterly.     He  sent  me  on  the  lee  side  to  watch  the  weather,  that 


58  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

looked  threatening  over  the  land.  When  we  were  alone  he 
usually  called  me  "  Jupiter/'  and  was  asking  me  a  question,  al- 
though the  sail  was  between  us,  as  to  what  I  would  do  in  a  certain 
contingency  were  I  in  charge  of  the  deck,  when  the  commander 
came  upon  him  suddenly  in  the  dark  and  heard  our  conversation. 
Gist  was  directed  to  take  in  the  spanker,  and  after  giving  some 
orders  for  the  night  the  commander  went  into  his  cabin.  Gist 
called  me  over  and  wished  to  know  whether  I  objected  to  being 
called  "  Jupiter."  I  assured  him  that  I  was  entirely  indifferent 
as  to  what  he  called  me,  provided  I  understood  that  he  meant 
me.  That  made  him  feel  easy,  as  he  thought  the  commander 
might  be  disposed  to  make  an  inquiry  about  it ;  he  began  his 
stories,  and  I  was  his  audience  until  midnight,  when,  as  usual,  I 
went  below  to  call  our  reliefs.  I  was  soon  relieved,  and,  being 
very  tired,  went  to  sleep  at  once. 

Lieutenant  Paul,  who  was  Gist's  relief,  was  some  time  in 
reaching  the  deck ;  the  night  was  still  very  dark,  and,  although 
the  surface  of  the  water  was  smooth,  there  was  a  very  consider- 
able ground-swell.  Paul  was  standing  just  abaft  the  quarter- 
boat,  and  his  foot  must  have  been  quite  near  the  side  of  the  ship, 
above  which,  at  the  height  of  about  fifteen  inches,  was  a  small 
iron  railing,  actually  no  protection  against  falling  overboard 
unless  the  person  would  sit  down  on  the  deck  and  hold  on  to 
it.  In  a  heavy  roll  he  lost  his  balance,  and  in  falling  his 
head  must  have  struck  against  the  spars;  thus  stunned,  he 
sank  immediately,  and,  although  the  boat  was  at  once  lowered, 
nothing  more  was  to  be  seen  save  the  phosphorescent  light 
always  visible  when  anything  is  sinking  deep  into  the  sea.  He 
was  a  very  handsome,  gentlemanly  young  officer,  and  had  a 
more  thorough  knowledge  of  theoretical  navigation  than  was 
usual  with  officers  at  that  time.  I  slept  so  soundly  and  the  dis- 
turbance was  so  little  that  I  was  not  aware  of  the  loss  of  this 
officer  until  I  was  aroused  at  the  usual  hour  on  board  ship, 
7.30  a.m. 

Two  days  after  this  sad  occurrence  we  anchored  off  Tampico, 
and  after  a  day  left  for  Vera  Cruz,  where  we  anchored  on  the  16th 
of  March.  As  we  stood  in  for  the  island  of  Sacrificios,  where 
there  were  several  French  and  other  vessels-of-war  at  anchor, 


COLLISION  WITH  A   FRENCH  BRIQ-OF-WAR.  59 

passing  too  near  ahead  of  a  French  brig-of-war,  we  sagged 
down  on  her,  and  carried  away  her  flying  jib-boom  and  fore- 
royal-mast;  the  latter  in  falling,  unhappily,  killed  one  or  two 
of  the  crew.  The  French  captain,  with  more  zeal  than  propriety, 
rushed  forward  on  the  forecastle  and  roundly  damned  our 
captain,  who  put  on  his  full  dress  and  went  on  board,  and  that 
was  the  last  we  ever  heard  of  it ;  whether  he  apologized  to  the 
Frenchman  or  the  Frenchman  to  him,  or  they  split  the  difference 
by  mutual  apologies,  we  did  not  learn. 

At  that  time  the  French  had  a  large  number  of  wild  cattle 
on  the  island ;  one  day  I  went  on  shore  to  take  a  walk,  and, 
hearing  a  noise  behind  me,  saw  a  fierce  bull  making  the  best  of 
his  way,  with  head  down,  ready  to  gore  me.  It  did  not  take 
me  long  to  reach  the  water  near  by,  nor  was  any  exertion  spared 
in  doing  so.  The  animal  declined  to  follow,  but  stood  on  the 
shore,  angrily  shaking  his  head,  and  soon  after,  regarding  the 
game  as  up,  thoughtfully  retired  and  allowed  me  to  come  to  the 
beach. 

A  day  or  so  after,  a  party  of  French  sailors  were  on  shore 
shooting  some  of  the  cattle,  and  were  not  observant  that  if  they 
missed  their  mark  they  would  hit  our  vessel,  or  perhaps  were 
not  unwilling  to  shoot  some  of  us  as  an  equivalent  for  our  awk- 
wardness in  killing  one  or  two  of  their  men  when  we  anchored. 
Several  bullets  came  on  board,  either  wounding  one  or  more 
men  or  barely  failing  to  do  so.  A  note  was  sent  to  their  com- 
manding officer,  who  in  reply  wrote  that  he  was  "very  sorry 
for  the  accident  that  happened  on  your  board  yesterday,  in  con- 
sequence of  some  of  our  sailors  shooting  at  a  bullock  which 
they  could  not  catch ;"  and  this  squared  all  matters  of  difference 
between  us. 

On  leaving  the  Southwest  Pass,  where  we  took  in  a  supply 
of  provisions  for  the  crew,  and  a  good  many  stores  for  the  cap- 
tain and  other  persons  and  messes,  the  spirit-room  was  packed 
full.  This  apartment  of  the  hold  lay  immediately  under  the 
steerage,  and  was  used  for  stowing  rice,  molasses,  tobacco,  vin- 
egar, whiskey,  and  other  stores  for  the  crew,  as  also  the  stores 
of  the  officers'  messes.  A  large  hatchway  opened  under  the  one 
on  the  spar-deck,  through  which  the  ladders  came  from  above, 


60  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

abutting  within  two  feet  of  the  doors  leading  into  the  wardroom, 
and  covering  the  hatchway.  It  was  necessary  from  time  to  time 
to  break  out  a  great  quantity  of  stores  to  get  at  what  was  re- 
quired, and  at  such  times  the  steerage  was  littered  up  with  what 
was  broken  out.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  when  a  number  of 
boxes  of  the  captain's  cheap  Bordeaux  covered  the  apartment, 
it  entered  the  head  of  Hamilton  G.,  possibly  from  the  prompt- 
ing of  his  more  astute  friend,  to  possess  himself  of  "  los  bienes 
ajenos"  which  Gil  Bias's  uncle  told  him  was  a  dangerous  thing  j 
but  he  knew  nothing  of  Gil  Bias  or  his  uncle,  although  he  had 
been  in  Spain.  It  was  with  quite  a  satisfied  air  that  he  dis- 
pensed, to  such  as  would  accept,  a  glass  of  poor  wine,  until  a 
dozen  bottles  were  emptied.  At  such  times  he  had  a  wise  look, 
and  remarked  that  "  it  came  by  way  of  reprisal."  The  act  was 
so  publicly  done  and  known,  and  the  value  of  the  article  so  in- 
significant, that  it  was  regarded  by  most  of  his  messmates  rather 
as  a  stupid  impropriety  than  an  intended  crime.  The  captain 
at  once  learned  of  it,  and  in  a  few  days  made  an  investigation, 
which  was  certain  to  be  followed  by  a  court-martial  on  the 
vessel  reaching  Pensacola. 

From  Vera  Cruz  we  went  to  the  southeastern  part  of  the 
Gulf,  some  three  hundred  miles  away,  and  anchored  in  ten  fath- 
oms of  water,  so  far  off  Laguna  de  Terminos  as  to  be  quite  out 
of  sight  of  land  until  an  ascent  of  fifty  feet  above  the  water 
was  made.  Thus  anchored  at  sea  we  lay  for  eleven  days,  re- 
ceiving no  supplies  of  any  kind  until  the  day  before  sailing, 
when,  through  an  arrangement  made  by  the  purser,  who  went 
on  shore  in  one  of  the  ship's  boats  soon  after  we  arrived,  there 
were  brought  off  in  a  small  vessel  a  dozen  or  more  hawksbill 
turtles  of  enormous  size,  weighing  several  hundred  pounds.  We 
were  not  sorry  to  leave  for  Pensacola,  where  we  arrived  in  eight 
days,  finding  letters  from  home,  as  well  as  bread;  with  the 
exception  of  a  great  abundance  of  the  best  of  fish,  there  was 
little  else  that  was  wholesome. 

The  unfortunate  affair  of  Hamilton  G.  taking  too  much 
Medoc  quite  impaired  the  availability  of  our  "  society  members." 
After  a  time  his  resignation,  tendered  at  Vera  Cruz,  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  Department,  and  he  left  the  ship.     In  a  day  or 


A    WATER-SPOUT.  (31 

so  he  came  on  board  and  exhibited  himself,  his  fingers  covered 
with  rings  of  every  shape  and  variety ;  after  a  few  days  they 
were  observed,  by  those  who  met  him  on  shore,  to  diminish  in 
number,  until  not  one  remained ;  his  buoyancy  of  character  left 
him,  and  he  was  no  longer  an  "  ornament  to  society."  A  month 
later  he  became  the  boatswain  of  a  revenue  cutter.  Soon  after, 
we  suffered  the  loss  of  Billy  B.,  who  was  transferred  to  another 
ship.  He  remained  in  the  navy  until  the  fall  of  1853,  when 
his  further  services  to  his  country  were  dispensed  with.  As 
neither  his  voice  nor  his  skill  on  the  guitar  fitted  him  to  become 
a  successful  minstrel,  his  further  career  cannot  be  conjectured. 
Nevermore,  from  that  time  to  this,  have  I  met  or  heard  of  or 
from  Billy  B.  or  Hamilton  G. ;  their  "  frailties  did  not  lean  to 
virtue's  side." 

After  lying  at  anchor  either  off  Pensacola  or  at  the  navy- 
yard,  six  miles  below,  and  within  two  miles  of  the  bar  at  the 
entrance  to  the  bay,  on  June  16  we  got  under  way  for  the 
anchorage  off  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Bravo,  which  we  reached 
in  four  days,  going  thence  to  the  South  Pass  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  where  we  arrived  on  the  2d  of  July.  There  is  perhaps 
no  locality  on  the  globe  where  thunder-storms  with  heavy  winds, 
generating  water-spouts,  are  to  be  found  of  more  terrific  gran- 
deur than  off  the  passes  of  the  Mississippi.  On  one  occasion, 
when  running  before  the  wind,  the  darkness  of  the  night  illumi- 
nated with  vivid  lightning-flashes  from  all  around  the  compass, 
we  ran  close  aboard  a  huge  water-spout  on  its  travels.  A 
mighty  sound,  of  water-spout  and  tempest,  spread  over  the  ocean, 
and  the  water,  beaten  by  the  winds,  was  lashed  into  foam  until  the 
force  of  the  squall  had  passed.  In  long  voyages  in  both  hemi- 
spheres, I  recall  no  thunder-storms  of  more  terrific  violence  than 
those  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  in  Pensacola  Bay.  There,  on 
one  occasion,  half  a  dozen  vessels-of-war  were  at  anchor,  per- 
haps within  a  distance  of  a  mile  of  each  other ;  several  of  them 
were  struck,  probably  by  the  same  electric  discharge,  which  was 
so  intense  as  to  fuse  several  of  the  links  of  the  conductors,  that 
fell  from  aloft,  on  board  the  Vandalia,  to  the  deck,  entirely 
separated ;  the  same  effect  was  produced  on  board  of  several  of 
the  vessels.     The  conductor  then  in  use  was  made  of  links  of 


Q2  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

round  iron,  perhaps  nearly  one-quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter 
and  eighteen  inches  in  length.  Afterwards  conductors  of  small 
copper  wires  were  made  into  a  flexible  rope  of  about  half  an 
inch  in  diameter,  and  since  then  other  methods  of  placement 
have  been  resorted  to.  Since  my  entry  into  the  navy,  more 
than  half  a  century  ago,  I  can  recall  no  instance  of  a  man  being 
killed  by  lightning  on  board  one  of  our  vessels-of-war ;  but  in 
looking  over  the  log-book  of  the  Peacock  to  ascertain  the  facts 
in  relation  to  the  whale  that  struck  her  in  1826,  I  saw  an  entry 
of  three  men  killed  on  her  deck,  by  lightning,  in  the  South 
Pacific  in  1826. 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

Cruising  on  the  Coast  of  Texas  after  Slavers — Colonel  David  Crockett — 
General  Sam  Houston — The  Coast  of  Texas — Keeping  the  Lookout — 
Scarcity  of  "Water— Commander  Levy  gets  excited,  and  suggests  the  Proper 
Pronunciation  of  his  Name — A  Threatened  Court-Martial — Calling  an 
Officer  a  ':  Semiquaver" — Two  Old  Stories — The  Captain's  Wooden  Horse 
— Want  of  Fresh  Air — The  Author  had  tendered  his  Resignation,  hut  the 
Commodore  retained  it  and  advised  against  it. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  1839,  we  left  the  South  Pass  to  cruise 
off  the  coast  of  Texas  to  catch  the  slavers,  if  we  could,  which 
were  at  that  time  bringing  their  cargoes  from  Africa. 

Twenty  or  more  years  previously  certain  citizens  of  the 
United  States  had  established  themselves  in  Texas;  and  to 
them  the  Mexican  government,  with  great  liberality,  granted 
leagues  of  land.  After  some  hundreds  of  them  had  located 
they  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  they  "  wished  to  be  free," 
and  desired  to  have  slaves,  and,  as  they  could  not  have  them 
under  the  Mexican  government,  there  came  a  "revolution," 
soon  marked  by  the  massacre  at  the  Alamo,  at  which  Davy 
Crockett,  of  Congressional  fame,  from  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
went  off  in  a  blaze  of  glory.  The  asserted  outrage  of  Mexico, 
in  invading  the  territory  of  a  free  people,  was  published  far  and 
wide  in  our  Western  and  Southern  States,  and  hundreds  of 
persons  who  had  nothing  else  to  do  rushed  to  the  rescue  "  of  a 


KEEPING    THE  LOOKOUT.  63 

brave  people  who  were  struggling  for  their  liberty."  They 
were  commanded  by  General  Sam  Houston,  who  years  before 
had  left  his  native  State  of  Tennessee  and  taken  up  his  resi- 
dence with  Indians.  He  was  a  man  of  distinguished  presence 
and  commanding  manner,  and  after  Texas  was  admitted  into 
the  Union  was  for  a  term  of  years  a  Senator  from  that  State. 
In  February,  1835,  he  assembled  hundreds  of  unquiet  spirits, 
and,  when  approached  by  General  Santa  Anna,  with  double  his 
force,  he  fell  upon  the  enemy  suddenly,  with  such  might  as 
struck  terror  into  the  Mexicans,  and  they  precipitately  fled, 
leaving  numbers  of  dead  and  dying  on  the  field  of  San  Jacinto. 
Having  thus  "  won  their  independence,"  the  next  thing  in  order 
was  to  introduce  slavery  into  the  country,  that  affording  a 
cheaper  market  than  the  bordering  slave  State  of  Louisiana. 
And  so,  in  the  inexorable  law  of  nature,  was  imposed  upon  us, 
a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  a  sanguinary  civil  war, — a  forced 
atonement  for  our  inhumanity  as  a  people. 

I  have  wandered  from  the  Vandalia,  then  cruising  off  the 
coast  of  Texas  for  slavers,  with  as  little  probability  of  catching 
one  as  of  a  tortoise  catching  a  hare,  but  with  quite  a  different 
result  from  that  given  in  the  fable.  The  coast  of  Texas  has 
shoals  extending  miles  to  seaward,  over  which  the  fleet  fore-and- 
aft  schooners  usually  employed  as  slavers  could  pass,  and  which 
were  far  too  shallow  for  sloops-of-war  of  sixteen-feet  draught. 
In  light  breezes  these  fore-and-aft  vessels  would  fan  along 
within  four  points  of  the  wind,  when  the  Vandalia,  with  a  very 
foul  bottom,  would  hardly  feel  the  force  of  the  wind  even  when 
abeam,  and,  if  a  sail  was  reported  from  aloft,  it  would  soon  disap- 
pear below  the  horizon.  Nevertheless  we  cruised  along  the  coast 
some  twenty  miles  from  it,  in  ten  or  fifteen  fathoms  of  water, 
without  ever  seeing  it,  even  from  the  royal-mast-head.  A  mid- 
shipman was  kept  as  a  lookout  at  the  fore-topmast-head.  On 
this  lofty  station  I  read  "  Zimmermann  on  Solitude,"  which  I 
had  brought  with  me  from  home ;  it  was  the  gift  of  a  brother, 
and  so  small  that  it  could  readily  be  put  in  the  pocket.  I  com- 
mend this  little  book  to  a  careful  perusal,  in  the  belief  that  it  is 
worth  a  dozen  modern  novels. 

One  of  our  number  was  less  interested  in  reading  than  myself. 


64  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

When  aloft  he  triced  up  the  back-cloth,  used  to  make  a  snug 
furl  of  the  bunt  of  a  topsail,  passed  a  rope  around  his  breast 
under  his  arms,  and  secured  the  other  end,  so  that,  if  he  should 
roll  off  the  yard  by  the  motion  of  the  vessel,  he  would  remain 
suspended  some  seventy  feet  above  the  deck  instead  of  falling 
upon  it.  He  went  to  sleep  unconcernedly,  and  so  soundly  that, 
when  hailed  to  look  out  for  himself,  in  bracing  around  the 
yards,  he  made  no  answer.  The  captain,  being  on  deck,  made 
inquiry  as  to  what  had  become  of  the  lookout.  The  captain  of 
the  foretop  reported  that  he  was  at  the  mast-head,  and  repeated 
hails  finally  awoke  him ;  he  was  ordered  down,  and  thereafter 
deprived  of  the  honor  of  keeping  a  lookout.  This  dereliction 
on  his  part  was  assumed  to  be  sufficient  reason  why  all  the  mid- 
shipmen should  be  put  in  watch  and  watch, — that  is  to  say,  be 
kept  on  deck  twelve  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  and  also 
during  such  times  as  other  duties  required.  This,  for  youngsters 
who  kept  awake  during  their  night-watches,  was  very  fatiguing 
and  simply  an  act  of  tyranny. 

At  that  time,  too,  the  crew  and  the  officers  were  on  an  allowance 
of  five  pints  of  water  to  each  person ;  this,  of  course,  included 
what  was  necessary  for  making  tea  or  coffee,  for  making  bean 
soup,  cooking  rice,  and  making  hard-bread  puddings,  about  the 
only  food  we  had  that  was  wholesome.  There  was  neither 
reason  nor  excuse  for  it :  had  our  allowance  been  the  usual  one, 
of  a  gallon  per  man  when  at  sea,  we  would  have  gone  into  port 
a  month  thereafter  with  several  thousand  gallons  of  water  in 
the  casks. 

Since  1837  our  vessel s-of- war  fitting  for  sea  have  had  iron 
tanks  made  on  patterns  conforming  to  the  shape  of  the  vessel, 
with  a  space  of  three  feet  or  more  above  them,  depending  upon 
the  size  of  the  vessel,  in  which  space  barrels  of  provisions — 
pork,  beef,  and  other  constituents  of  a  naval  ration — are  stowed. 
The  substitution  of  water-tanks  for  wooden  casks  of  different 
sizes,  those  next  the  keelson  being  the  largest,  and  the  smaller 
ones  conforming  to  the  rise  of  the  floor,  to  have  their  tops  as 
near  on  a  level  as  possible,  was  a  great  saving  of  room.  After 
their  stowage,  the  tanks  were  calked  between  them,  to  prevent 
rice,  beans,  or  other  provisions   that  would  be  spilled,  from 


A    THREATENED   COURT-MARTIAL.  65 

getting  down  into  the  bilge  and  decaying,  adding  greatly  to  the 
foulness  of  the  atmosphere  between  decks,  which  was  stifling 
when  the  hatches  were  battened  down  and  the  vessel  rolling 
heavily  in  gales.  The  white  paint  on  the  lower  deck  would 
become  of  an  ashy  or  dull-leaden  color,  an  indication  of  what 
the  lungs  had  to  endure  from  the  quantity  of  air  required  in 
respiration,  as  compared  with  a  simple  surface  exposed  to  the 
atmosphere.  Indeed,  this  deposit  was  in  a  considerable  part 
from  the  air  made  foul  through  respiration.  A  good  deal  of 
the  water  served  as  our  allowance  was  so  unpleasant  to  the  smell 
and  taste  as  to  be  undrinkable,  save  when  made  into  tea  or 
coffee. 

A  day  or  so  after  we  had  been  put  on  the  short  allowance  of 
five  pints  of  water  daily,  it  was  raining  very  hard,  the  breeze 
had  died  away,  and  I  was  directed  to  report  the  fact  to  the 
captain.  Remembering  a  reproof  received  shortly  after  joining 
a  vessel, — that  it  was  improper  to  make  a  report  from  the  cabin 
door,  that  respect  for  my  superior  demanded  that  I  should  go 
near  him, — I  went,  dripping  like  a  wet  swab,  with  a  broad- 
brimmed  felt  hat  in  my  hand,  from  which  a  stream  of  water 
was  flowing,  and  said,  "  Commander  Le-vi,  it  has  fallen  calm, 
and  is  raining  very  hard;"  I  then  slowly  left  his  august 
presence. 

He  replied,  in  a  loud,  snappish  tone,  "  Very  good,  sir ;"  as  I 
neared  the  door,  feeling  that  he  had  not  said  all  that  the  occasion 
demanded,  he  added,  "  Look  ?e  here,  sir  :  when  I  joined  this  ship 
you  called  me  captain ;  now  you  call  me  commander ;  this  is 
positive  disrespect,  sir,  and  I'll  have  you  tried  by  court-martial, 
and  break  you,  sir.     How  do  you  know  I  am  a  commander  ?" 

I  replied,  "  I  see  your  name  on  the  Navy  Register  as  Com- 
mander Uriah  P.  Levy." 

On  my  leaving,  the  cabin  door  was  opened  to  relieve  a  stifling 
atmosphere,  and  Commander  Levy  looking  out,  saw  me  walking 
to  and  fro  on  the  quarter-deck,  ankle-deep  in  water,  in  the  heavy 
rain,  with  all  the  dignity  and  circumstance  of  a  full-fledged 
midshipman  who  had  no  favors  to  ask,  and  like  unto  the  mate 
who  informed  the  captain  that  all  he  wanted  was  "  ciwility,  and 
that  of  the  commonest  kind." 

5 


66  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

I  was  inspired  with  so  thorough  a  disgust  for  the  service 
during  this  cruise  that  I  determined  to  resign,  as  soon  as  I  had 
asked  my  father's  consent.  My  naval  education  acquired  during 
the  earlier  and  rougher  years  of  that  service  has  given  me  an 
invincible  and  thorough  contempt  for  every  one  who  uses  his 
authority  for  any  other  purpose  than  making  those  under  his 
command  effective. 

The  exercise  at  the  great  gun  and  of  the  mizzen-topsail,  keep- 
ing a  lookout  at  the  fore-topmast-head,  with  watches,  day  and 
night,  of  eight  hours  in  the  twenty-four,  did  not  by  any  means 
exhaust  the  energy  of  the  youthful  aspirants  for  naval  glory. 
Blobbs,  months  before,  had  brought  to  the  comprehension  of 
Barbot  that,  being  in  the  American  navy  and  speaking  English, 
his  name  should  not  be  pronounced  as  though  spelled  Bar-bow 
but  as  B&r-bot  Convinced  of  the  advantage  of  renouncing  his 
native  tongue  and  the  vanities  of  his  race,  he  insisted  thereafter 
on  being  called  Bar-6o£. 

"When  aloft  reefing  the  mizzen-topsail,  Blobbs  found  fault 
with  Barbot  and  called  him  a  semiquaver,  which  disturbed  him 
greatly.  On  going  below,  he  told  the  midshipman  cut  out  for  a 
tragedian  that  he  had  been  called  a  "  semiquaver." 

On  hearing  this,  the  latter  jumped  up,  with  apparent  surprise 
and  indignation  in  his  features,  with  the  same  energy  as  when  he 
"  humped  his  back"  and  gave  us  Richard  the  Third,  and  said, 
"Good  God  !  Barbot,  who  called  you  that?" 

"  Blobbs  did  it,"  answered  he,  "  on  the  topsail-yard,  a  few 
minutes  ago." 

"  I  thought  it  must  have  been  Blobbs,"  said  the  tragedian, 
with  a  somewhat  pensive,  thoughtful  air. 

"  Talking  of  the  devil,"  Blobbs  came  down  the  hatchway,  and 
Barbot  at  once  demanded  a  retraction  of  the  epithet. 

"  No,"  said  Blobbs,  "  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  I  will  add  to  it. 
I  consider  you  a  demi-semiquaver  /" 

Richard  the  Third  was  horror-stricken,  and  Barbot  was  boil- 
ing over  with  indignation  at  the  epithet  that  had  been  heaped 
upon  him.  He  told  the  perpetrator  emphatically  that  he  must 
apologize  forthwith,  or  he  would  at  once  lay  the  insult  before 
the  first  lieutenant. 


CALLING  AN  OFFICER  A   "SEMIQUAVER."  67 

This  resolve  seemed  to  stir  up  Blobbs  to  the  point  of  despera- 
tion, and,  holding  his  finger  defiantly  in  the  face  of  Barbot,  he 
said,  "  I  will  give  you  something  to  report :  I  consider  you  a 
double  demi-semiquaver  I     Yes,"  said  he,  after  a  pause,  as  if  to 

pile  on  ignominy,  "  I  will  say  that  I  regard  you  as  a  d n 

double  demi-semiquaver." 

"  Report  him !  report  him  at  once  I"  shouted  Richard  the  Third. 

Up  went  Barbot,  who  found  the  first  lieutenant  on  deck,  and, 
suffering  from  a  sense  of  injury,  was  quite  unable  for  a  time  to 
impress  upon  his  hearer  the  full  measure  of  the  indignity. 
When  this  was  accomplished,  he  was  directed  to  send  the  delin- 
quent on  deck,  and  hastily  descended  the  ladder  to  execute  the 
order.  "  Mr.  Blobbs,"  said  he,  "  the  first  lieutenant  wishes  to 
see  you  on  deck." 

"  Very  well,  sir,  very  well  j  if  the  first  lieutenant  suspends 
me,  look  out,  sir  !"  and  up  the  ladder  he  went,  with  the  air  of 
a  youth  who  had  nerved  himself  to  meet  a  dire  event. 

After  an  interview  of  some  minutes,  in  which  the  first  lieu- 
tenant made  inquiries  as  to  what  had  caused  this  uncalled-for 
and  violent  abuse  of  Barbot,  the  callous  injurer  of  reputations 
and  promiscuous  user  of  epithets  was  directed  to  depart — and  to 
sin  no  more.  Instead  of  appreciating  this  generous  treatment, 
and  going  quietly  below  to  beg  pardon  for  the  offence,  the  little 
wretch  jumped  from  the  top  of  the  hatchway  to  the  foot  of  it, 
scarcely  touching  the  ladder,  and,  as  if  in  rage,  demanded  his 
pistols  ! 

Poor  Barbot  had  been  waiting  in  anticipation  of  having  his 
maligner  and  persecutor  brought  to  a  sense  of  propriety,  but, 
when  he  heard  a  savage  demand  for  arms,  he  rushed  out  on  the 
berth-deck,  up  the  main  hatchway,  aft  to  the  orderly  at  the  cabin 
door,  and  requested  that  individual  to  take  charge  of  and  protect 
him  from  the  violence  of  the  blood-thirsty  Blobbs.  He  sent 
below  for  camp-stools,  upon  which  he  slept  that  night,  with  a 
feeling  of  security,  and  with  as  much  comfort  as  if  below. 

In  the  steerage  were  assembled  all  the  mess  not  on  duty, 
recounting  stories  until  nine  p.m.,  when  the  master-at-arms 
appeared,  "to  douse  the  glim," — in  plain  English,  to  put  out 
the  light. 


gg  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE   NEW. 

Waite  told  of  a  purser  in  the  English  navy  who  met  a  mid- 
shipman walking  on  the  island  of  Jamaica  ;  the  purser  was  de- 
scribed as  a  man  with  two  eyes  and  the  merest  apology  for  an 
abdomen,  and  the  midshipman  as  a  great,  burly  fellow  "  three 
sheets  in  the  wind."  On  passing  the  purser  the  midshipman 
paid  not  the  least  regard  to  his  presence ;  the  former  took  him 
to  task  for  not  saluting  him.  The  drunken  midshipman,  eying 
him  contemptuously  from  head  to  foot,  hit  him  over  the  eye  with 
his  fist,  and  said,  "  Take  that,  you  d d  old  sea-grocer." 

Inquiries  followed  as  to  whether  the  purser  lost  his  eye,  and 
whether  the  loss  of  an  eye  would  lead  of  necessity,  or  perchance, 
to  the  formation  of  a  large  abdomen  ;  but  the  narrator  had  no 
knowledge  of  anything  beyond  the  fact  of  the  rencontre. 

"  But,"  said  one  of  the  most  interested  hearers,  "  I  think  you 
said  this  occurrence  took  place  on  the  island  of  Jamaica,  and 
between  British  officers" 

"  Most  assuredly  I  did,"  replied  the  story-teller. 

Another  story,  told  by  some  one  who  wished  to  add  to  the 
entertainment  or  knowledge  of  his  messmates,  was  of  a  rude 
boy  who  was  found  in  the  top  of  an  apple-tree  by  the  owner  of 
the  orchard,  who  desired  him  to  come  down,  but  the  boy  would 
not.  Then  the  old  man  threw  a  few  tufts  of  grass  at  him,  which 
only  made  the  boy  laugh.  "  Very  well,"  said  the  old  man,  "  if 
neither  kind  words  nor  gentle  deeds  will  bring  you  down,  we 
will  see  what  virtue  there  is  in  these."  So  he  picked  up  stones 
and  threw  them  at  the  boy,  which  soon  made  the  young  sauce- 
box and  thief  come  down  and  beg  the  old  man's  pardon. 

The  supposition  was  offered  by  one  of  the  hearers  that  he 
had  seen  something  of  this  in  a  book,  but  in  general  it  was 
admitted  as  entirely  original  and  very  instructive.  A  dozen 
years  before,  almost  every  child  in  America  had  read  it  in 
Webster's  "  Elementary  Spelling-Book,"  then  in  use  over  the 
whole  country.  What  made  it  exasperating  was  the  fact  that 
these  two  stories,  interspersed  with  others  just  as  absurd,  were 
recounted  night  after  night,  with  a  persistence  worthy  of  a  better 
cause,  until  something  occurred  to  break  up  the  monotonous 
nonsense. 

But  the  circus  was  not  all  between  decks ;  the  commander 


THE  CAPTAIN'S   WOODEN  HORSE.  69 

himself  had  instituted  a  performance  for  the  public  benefit,  that 
could  be  seen  by  all  and  practised  by  the  elect.  He  had  a 
wooden  horse  such  as  carpenters  make  use  of  in  sawing ;  it  was 
fitted  with  a  wooden  head,  and  leather  ears  were  nailed  on ;  a 
swab  served  as  a  tail,  a  thrum  mat  for  a  saddle,  rope  reins  for  a 
bridle,  a  rope  for  stirrup-leathers,  and  a  bight  to  rest  the  feet  in 
for  stirrups.  In  order  to  give  motion  to  this  supposititious  horse, 
the  roll  of  the  ship  was  made  use  of.  To  effect  this,  a  span  or 
bight  of  a  rope,  long  enough  to  clear  the  head  of  a  man  when 
seated  on  the  thrum  mat  used  for  a  saddle,  was  secured  at  one 
end  about  the  forelegs  of  the  animal,  and  at  the  other  end  about 
the  legs  near  the  swab  which  served  as  the  tail.  A  leading- 
block  was  put  upon  the  spanker-gaff,  a  whip  rove  through  it, 
and  the  end  fastened  to  the  span  over  the  rider's  head.  The 
horse  was  now  ready  for  the  rider,  who  Was  furnished  with  a 
wooden  sword,  and,  when  seated  on  the  saddle,  the  horse  was 
triced  up  just  high  enough  to  have  his  legs  clear  the  spanker- 
boom.  With  the  roll  of  the  ship  he  would  charge  across  the 
spanker-boom,  and  when  the  vessel  pitched  he  would  charge  fore 
and  aft.  If  considered  as  a  whole,  the  movement  was  defective, 
for  the  reason  that  the  rider  would  sometimes  come  broadside 
on,  sometimes  whirl  around  without  apparent  object,  yet  all  the 
time  striking  out  with  his  wooden  sword,  as  instructed.  In 
retreat,  unlike  other  horsemen,  he  would  keep  head  on  to  the 
enemy,  as  the  modern  gunboat  is  intended  to  do.  In  a  heavy 
sea  this  cavalry  exercise  was,  of  course,  dispensed  with,  as  the 
rider  would  certainly  have  been  thrown  overboard.  Even  in 
moderate  weather  some  of  the  riders  barely  escaped  a  sea-bath, 
and  swords  were  frequently  lost  overboard  in  making  too  furious 
charges  and  getting  the  weapon  entangled  in  the  rigging,  but 
the  carpenter  soon  learned  to  have  a  lot  of  them  on  hand  to 
repair  losses.  The  old  surgeon,  after  regarding  this  exercise 
for  some  time,  and  seeing  how  imperfectly  the  horse  charged 
and  the  impossibility  of  using  horses  afloat,  uttered  his  criticism 
in  "Cuibono?" 

We  had  a  heavy  southeast  gale  during  this  cruise,  and  came 
perforce  nearer  the  coast  than  on  any  former  occasion,  having 
been  driven  into  seven  fathoms  water.     We  were  forced  to  carry 


70  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

a  heavy  press  of  sail  during  the  night,  to  avoid  going  ashore. 
The  wind  hauling,  enabled  us  to  make  a  good  lay  off  the  land 
on  the  starboard  tack.  My  sentiment  was  that  of  a  passenger 
who  on  a  similar  occasion  said  that,  if  the  ship  did  get  on  the 
beach,  he  had  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  it ;  it  was  wholly  the 
affair  of  the  captain.  The  hatches  were  battened  down,  as  in- 
dispensable on  such  occasions,  and  the  air  below  was  fetid  to  a 
degree ;  our  sick-list,  of  course,  was  always  large,  and  under 
such  conditions  sick  men  naturally  die.  During  the  mid-watch, 
about  the  time  a  poor  fellow  was  dying,  there  was  seen  on 
the  main-topsail-yard,  passing  along  from  yard-arm  to  yard- 
arm,  what  is  popularly  known  as  a  "  Jack-a-lantern,"  or  by 
more  learned  people  as  "  St.  Elmo's  fire,"  which  is  often  seen  in 
heavy  weather.  It  is  a  dull  light,  not  unlike  what  is  known  to 
country  people  as  "fox-fire."  A  stump  of  a  tree  or  a  log, 
where  there  is  a  recent  cut  and  the  wood  in  a  state  of  decompo- 
sition, on  a  warm,  dark,  damp  night  has  a  luminous  appearance, 
and  may  be  seen  at  a  distance  of  fifty  yards  or  more ;  this  is 
known  as  "  fox-fire." 

In  the  time  of  Anson  and  other  voyagers  since  the  discovery 
of  America,  to  provide  for  the  many  deaths  from  disease  that 
seemed  to  them  unavoidable,  a  large  additional  number  of  men 
were  taken  on  board  to  meet  a  contingency,  just  as  they  took 
spare  topmasts  and  other  spars.  Even  half  a  century  ago,  the 
necessity  for  fresh  air  to  sustain  vitality  was  so  little  recognized 
as  to  be  unprovided  for.  With  nearly  as  little  labor  and  ex- 
pense as  making  the  wooden  horse  above  described,  a  square 
boxing  could  have  been  made  of  planks  one  inch  thick,  one 
foot  wide,  and  twelve  feet  long,  and  the  gratings  and  tarpaulins 
cut  to  meet  the  fitment  in  battening  down  the  hatches.  At 
the  fore-hatch  one  of  these  boxings  might  have  been  inserted ; 
or,  in  lieu  of  anything  better,  a  half-barrel  could  have  been  put 
over  the  end  above  the  hatchway,  on  a  pivot,  having  one  head 
out,  a  circular  hole  in  the  lower  part  of  the  barrel,  and  a  vane 
on  top  of  sufficient  length  to  keep  the  opening  to  windward. 
Quite  near  the  berth-deck,  holes  would  be  required  in  the  box- 
ing, to  allow  the  air  forced  down  the  barrel  to  escape  freely. 
At  the  main  hatch  a  similar  contrivance  could  have  been  in- 


THE  AUTHOR   TENDERS  HIS  RESIGNATION.  71 

serted,  with  the  difference  that  the  vane  should  hold  the  opening 
in  the  barrel  to  leeward,  so  as  by  suction  to  aid  the  escape  of 
the  foul  air,  and  the  openings  cut  into  the  boxing  be  close  under 
the  spar-deck.  With  two  such  boxings  and  fixtures  forward, 
and  two  others  at  the  steerage  hatch  and  wardroom  skylight, 
the  fresh  air  would  have  been  thrown  below  and  the  foul  air 
permitted  to  escape.  Had  this  been  done  in  the  past,  thousands 
of  poor  fellows,  buried  from  disease  consequent  upon  a  loss  of 
vitality,  would  have  come  home  after  making  voyages  in  what 
are  considered  deadly  climates.  Scurvy  and  dysentery  were 
the  supposed  causes  of  death,  when  in  fact  they  were  the  mere 
incidents,  the  expression  of  a  lack  of  vitality. 

A  century  ago,  and  indeed  long  after,  the  "  top  maul"  was 
the  implement  in  vogue ;  instruction  and  care  of  the  men  were 
regarded  as  of  little  moment.  Now  we  know  that  instruction 
can  in  a  large  degree  take  the  place  of  punishment,  and  proper 
water  and  food  and,  above  all,  a  sufficient  supply  of  untainted 
air  will  enable  men  to  live  on  board  ship  with  a  wonderfully 
small  loss  of  life  or  impairment  of  health,  even  as  compared  to 
ordinary  life  on  shore.  The  wretched  cruise  of  which  I  have 
given  a  brief  sketch,  showing  what  people  who  went  to  sea  suf- 
fered in  former  times,  has,  happily,  few  counterparts  at  this  time, 
and  should  have  none. 

We  arrived  at  Pensacola  August  3,  1839.  I  found  letters 
approving  of  my  resignation,  and  at  once  sent  in  my  paper, 
without  making  mention  of  the  fact  to  my  messmates.  Several 
days  thereafter,  when  I  thought  my  letter  was  well  on  the  way 
to  Washington,  a  boat  came  from  the  flag-ship  with  the  message 
that  the  commodore  wished  to  see  me.  I  went  on  board  with- 
out delay,  and  was  very  kindly  received.  He  said  he  had 
thought  proper  to  retain  my  letter  for  a  few  days,  and  to  see  me 
before  forwarding  it ;  I  had  been  in  the  navy  for  three  years, 
and  if  I  left  it  might  be  regarded  as  so  much  lost  time.  He 
stated  that  the  Vandalia  would  go  north  in  a  month  or  two, 
when  I  would  be  granted  a  leave  of  absence  to  visit  my  friends, 
and,  if  I  thought  proper,  could  then  resign  without  let  or  hin- 
derance.  I  thanked  him  for  his  considerate  suggestion,  and  said 
I  would  be  pleased  to  avail  myself  of  it.     This  action  of  the 


72  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

commodore  was  due  to  Lieutenant  Maffit,  who  was  probably 
told  by  the  captain  of  my  resignation,  and,  feeling  some  interest 
in  me,  paid  a  visit  to  the  commodore  and  suggested  his  action. 
Had  not  my  resignation  been  withheld,  my  life  would  have  been 
as  wholly  different  from  what  I  may  hereafter  present  as  that  of 
any  other  citizen  of  our  country.  I  have  always  felt  grateful 
to  Commodore  Shubrick  for  this  considerate  conduct  towards  a 
youth  whom  he  had  never  seen,  and  many  years  afterwards  I 
took  occasion  to  express  my  sense  of  obligation  to  him. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A  Ball  on  a  French  Frigate — A  Boat  that  smelt  of  Fish — Disgusted  Old 
Lady — Society — Sails  for  Norfolk — Midshipman  E.  C.  Anderson — The 
Cable  pa^rts — Goose-Quill  Pens  and  Cockroaches — Parting  with  Captain 
Levy — Accounts  of  Lieutenants  Gist  and  Maffit,  Midshipmen  Marcy  and 
Barbot,  and  others  of  the  Vandalia — The  Author  starts  for  Home  on  Three 
Months'  Leave — Ordered  to  the  Sloop-of-War  Preble — Commander  Breese 
— Service  on  the  Coast  of  Labrador  and  in  the  Mediterranean — The  "  Am- 
men  Kock" — Fogs — Sir  Colin  Campbell  and  his  Daughter — The  McNabb — 
A  Bright  Yankee  Girl — Visit  to  a  Coast  Kesidence. 

The  presence  of  two  French  frigates  in  the  harbor  in  addi- 
tion to  several  of  our  vessels-of-war  kept  society  in  movement, 
despite  the  absence  of  our  steerage  ornaments  Billy  B.  and  Ham- 
ilton G.  A  grand  ball  on  board  of  one  of  the  French  frigates 
brought  many  bright  faces  from  Mobile  and  New  Orleans. 

I  was  sent  in  charge  of  our  first  cutter  to  the  wharf,  to  aid 
in  taking  the  invited  guests  on  board.  The  first  persons  on 
hand  were  Brown  and  Throck,  the  one  from  the  South,  the 
other  from  the  West,  both  representative  men,  whose  doings 
would  fill  a  book  of  drolleries.  They  had  brought  down  a 
portly  lady  and  her  two  blooming  daughters.  We  had  a  lovely 
night,  and  the  full  moon  shone  brightly  over  the  broad  bay.  I 
was  treated  to  the  sight  of  beautiful  faces  as  the  young  ladies 
stepped  into  the  boat.  We  shoved  off  at  once,  and  the  party 
was  about  to  be  seated,  when  the  matron  began  to  sniff  the  air. 


SOCIETY.  73 

"  What !  no  cushions  ?"  she  exclaimed,  somewhat  reproach- 
fully, to  me. 

I  said,  "  Madam,  this  boat  is  not  provided  with  any,  but  I 
have  flags  that  I  hope  will  serve  the  same  purpose." 

"  Why,"  said  she,  "  this  boat  smells, — it  stinks  of  fish  !  Oh, 
girls,  this  will  never  do ;  you  must  pull  up  your  dresses  and  sit 
on  your  skirts,"  at  the  same  time  casting  a  rather  vicious  or 
contemptuous  look  at  me. 

I  bore  it  with  the  equanimity  that  has  been  my  blessing  in 
disguise  a  whole  lifetime,  and  said,  in  a  meek  way,  it  was  true 
that  the  boat  had  been  used  in  fishing,  but  that  it  had  been 
thoroughly  washed  and  was  perfectly  clean.  Had  we  not  al- 
ready shoved  off,  I  fear  that  I  would  not  have  had  the  honor  of 
taking  the  party  on  board,  and  I  now  doubt  if  my  assurance 
as  to  the  condition  of  the  boat  was  given  credence. 

On  arriving  at  a  large  floating  platform  at  the  gangway  of 
the  frigate,  the  party  landed  safely,  and  a  judicious  discussion 
put  the  young  lady  in  advance  who  was  supposed  to  speak  the 
best  French.  I  watched  the  wTaving  plumes  of  the  mother,  who 
was  the  last  of  the  party,  as  she  reached  the  gangway ;  and  this 
is  all  I  saw  of  society  during  my  eighteen  months  of  service  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

We  brought  our  ship's  supply  of  fresh  water  from  a  spring  a 
mile  or  so  within  the  entrance  of  what  was  known  as  the  Little 
Bayou.  Caught  within  it  in  a  heavy  gale  on  the  15th  of  Sep- 
tember, we  passed  the  night  on  the  sand-beach,  partly  protected 
from  the  driving  rain  by  a  small  boat  we  had  along  with  us, 
turned  upon  its  side.  The  water  rose  to  such  a  height  that  we 
found  ourselves  afloat;  so  we  hauled  our  boat  higher  up  the 
beach  and  lay  down  again  in  the  wet  sand.  At  that  time  the 
yellow  fever  was  prevalent  in  the  town,  so  we  had  little  inter- 
course with  the  people.  When  the  gale  abated  at  noon  the  next 
day,  we  pulled  on  board,  and  suffered  no  inconvenience  from 
our  exposure. 

A  month  later  we  sailed  for  Norfolk ;  Pensacola  was  so  un- 
interesting to  me  that,  when  I  last  stood  upon  the  wharf  nearly 
half  a  century  ago,  I  prayed  in  a  rude  way  that  I  might  never 
stand  there  again,  nor  have  I  since  that  time.     I  doubt  not  that 


74  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

a  change  has  been  wrought,  and  that  there  was  at  that  time 
more  to  commend  it  than  met  my  observation. 

After  twenty  days  at  sea  we  came  to  anchor  four  miles  south- 
east of  Cape  Henry.  In  a  great  measure  the  officers  had  been 
changed  before  leaving  for  the  North.  Among  those  who  joined 
us  was  Midshipman  E.  C.  Anderson,  then  preparing  for  exami- 
nation. He  remained  in  the  navy  for  more  than  ten  years  there- 
after, became  a  lieutenant,  and  resigned.  For  some  fifteen  years, 
at  various  times,  he  was  the  mayor  of  Savannah,  Georgia.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  ability  and  high  character,  and  will  again 
appear  in  the  pages  following. 

During  the  voyage  not  much  of  interest  occurred.  One  day 
when  beating  to  windward  in  a  short  chop  sea,  with  a  moderate 
breeze,  rocks  on  the  lee  bow  were  reported  from  aloft.  I  was 
then  on  quarter-deck  duty  as  midshipman,  and  the  captain  was 
parading  on  deck  in  fine  feather.  He  shouted,  "  Mr.  Hamet !" 
and  pointed  to  the  topmast-head.  I  looked  aloft  with  great  at- 
tention, saw  nothing  special,  then  looked  at  him,  and  resumed 
my  promenade.  Again  came  a  rather  louder  and  somewhat 
imperative  shout,  "  Mr.  Hamet !"  and  again  a  more  pronounced 
pointing  to  the  mast-head,  and  again  I  gave  it  a  careful  scanning. 
At  length,  with  a  good  deal  of  impatience,  he  told  me  to  go  to 
the  mast-head  and  report  what  I  saw  from  aloft.  I  clearly 
understood  that,  and  was  very  soon  at  the  mast-head  and  on 
deck  again,  with  the  information  that  two  jagged-looking  rocks, 
some  ten  or  more  feet  out  of  water  and  three  or  four  miles  dis- 
tant, were  about  two  points  on  the  lee  bow,  and  that  the  sea  was 
breaking  heavily  over  them.  Then  he  wished  to  know  whether 
we  would  weather  them.  I  replied  that  they  were  only  two 
points  on  the  lee  bow ;  if  we  made  no  leeway,  we  would  do  so. 
Owing  to  the  chop  sea,  the  headway  was  probably  not  more  than 
five  miles  an  hour  and  the  leeway  very  great ;  a  cast  of  the 
lead  was  taken,  and  the  depth  of  water  found  to  be  five  or  six 
fathoms.  The  helm  was  put  down  at  once  and  the  ship  went 
about ;  the  short  ships  of  that  time,  even  with  very  little  head- 
way, would  tack,  when  a  better  sailer  and  longer  ship  of  the 
present  day  would  not.  The  captain  looked  at  me  viciously, 
and  apparently  had  the  idea  that  I  cared  very  little  whether  the 


GOOSE-QUILL  PENS  AND  COCKROACHES.  75 

ship  was  piled  up  on  the  double-headed  Shot  Keys  or  ended 
her  voyage  in  Norfolk. 

We  had  an  old  midshipman  going  North  to  prepare  for  his 
examination.  He  had  not  the  high  qualities  of  the  gentleman 
whom  I  have  mentioned ;  they  had  been  shipmates  on  a  former 
cruise,  and  with  them  was  the  boatswain  now  on  board  of  the 
Vandal ia.  He  was  enormously  large  and  strong,  about  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  and  had  the  look  and  manner  of  a  typical 
"  Pennsylvania  Dutchman."  He  belonged  to  a  family  of  note, 
but  never  passed  his  examination,  and  left  the  service  two  years 
after  our  return.  One  day  he  took  possession  of  the  boatswain's 
room,  and  when  requested  to  leave  would  only  swear  at  him, 
and  when  he  got  hold  of  him  pinched  his  arms  unmercifully. 
In  the  boatswain's  extremity,  the  other  shipmate  was  appealed 
to,  who  finally  got  "  Charley"  to  abandon  his  stronghold. 

We  had  anchored  outside  of  Cape  Henry,  in  a  fresh  north- 
west wind,  to  avoid  being  drifted  by  the  coast  current  to  the 
southward.  A  pilot  came  on  board  during  the  night,  and  soon 
after  sunrise  we  commenced  to  heave  in  the  chain,  but  a  short 
chop  sea,  a  fresh  breeze,  and  a  short  vessel  snapped  it,  and  we 
had  only  a  little  length  of  cable  to  hoist  in.  It  is  worth  while 
to  remark,  that  this  is  the  only  cable  I  have  seen  parted  in  a 
period  of  twenty-one  years'  service  afloat. 

On  our  arrival  at  the  navy-yard  in  the  evening,  of  the  steer- 
age officers  only  Blobbs  and  myself  remained  on  board;  our 
messmates  consoled  us,  however,  by  sending  something  to  eat 
after  our  twenty  days'  voyage  on  sea-fare,  which  at  that  date 
differed  widely  from  what  is  now  obtainable.  We  passed  the 
evening  satisfactorily  in  a  species  of  retaliation  for  past  in- 
juries and  annoyances.  Armed  with  goose-quills,  we  scraped 
out  numberless  cockroaches  from  between  the  knees,  beams,  and 
carlings,  and  in  whatever  cracks  they  could  be  found ;  they  were 
quite  benumbed  by  the  cold.  A  huge  heap  of  them  gave  evi- 
dence of  our  industry  to  our  messmates,  when  they  came  on 
board  in  the  morning.  Some  of  them  who  were  not  particular, 
and  had  not  suffered  the  same  annoyance  that  we  had,  would 
perhaps  have  preferred  hearing  of  what  we  had  done,  in  clean- 
ing our  apartment,  to  the  actual  exhibition  of  our  "  find." 


76  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Many  persons  of  to-day  will  wonder  what  was  done  with 
goose-quills  other  than  the  use  they  were  put  to  by  us.  At  that 
time  a  steel  pen,  if  not  unknown,  was  certainly  not  in  common 
use.  The  goose-quill  for  the  ordinary  writer,  the  swan-pen  for 
the  recorder  of  documents,  and  the  crow-quill  for  ladies  and 
persons  who  had  fine  drawings  to  make,  served  the  purposes  of 
the  steel  pen.  If  a  goose-quill  is  now  made  into  a  pen,  it  is  by 
some  person  who  should  have  been  buried  long  ago. 

It  was  not  until  the  23d  of  November,  1839,  that  our  leaves 
of  absence  were  handed  us.  Just  before  the  closing  scene 
separating  us  from  the  Vandalia,  I  was  directed  to  go  with 
"  Cleopatra's  barge"  and  bring  alongside  of  the  vessel  a  large 
scow  to  carry  the  men  on  board  of  the  receiving-ship  Java,  where 
they  would  remain  until  paid  off.  The  scow  had  been  unloaded 
for  some  time,  and  sitting  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  the  calk- 
ing in  the  seams  near  the  ends  had  shrunk  so  that  she  leaked 
very  badly ;  the  whole  bottom  of  the  flat  boat  was  soon  awash, 
and  by  the  time  we  got  alongside  of  the  receiving-ship  a  good 
many  of  the  more  sober  men  were  standing  on  the  broad  gun- 
wale of  the  scow  to  keep  their  feet  dry.  The  officer  who  had 
charge  of  the  spirit-room  had  been  sent  away  from  the  vessel 
on  temporary  duty  in  the  navy-yard,  thus  giving  the  seaman 
left  on  board  an  opportunity  to  pull  up  the  grog-tub  by  a  line 
attached  to  it  for  that  purpose,  for  there  was  no  longer  any 
other  means,  such  as  a  ladder,  to  get  it  up.  It  was  probably 
then  taken  into  one  of  the  vacant  rooms  of  the  warrant-officers 
on  the  berth-deck,  and  the  choice  spirits  were  invited  to  "  par- 
take." As  the  scow  was  towed  away  from  the  Vandalia,  Com- 
mander Levy  stood  upon  the  poop  in  a  pose  of  assumed  dignity. 
As  soon  as  he  was  seen  by  the  men,  epithets  were  showered  upon 
him,  despite  my  orders  for  silence.* 


*  In  April,  1842,  Commander  Levy  was  tried  in  Baltimore  upon  charges 
of  illegal  punishment  when  in  command  of  the  Vandalia.  On  the  11th  of 
April  the  official  record  states,  "  The  court  does  adjudge  and  sentence  that 
Commander  Uriah  P.  Levy  he,  and  he  is  hereby,  dismissed  the  Navy  of  the 
United  States."  This  sentence  was  endorsed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
as  follows :  "  I  respectfully  recommend  that  the  sentence  he  approved.  A. 
P.  Upshur."     President  Tyler  regarded  the  sentence  too  severe  for  the  offence, 


ACCOUNTS  OF  LIE  UTS.  GIST  AND  MAFFIT,  AND  OTHERS.    77 

When  we  reached  the  receiving-ship  the  scow  was  nearly  half 
full  of  water.  I  went  up  the  gangway,  and,  handing  the  officer 
of  the  deck  a  list  of  the  men,  informed  him  that  they  were 
alongside,  and  I  had  been  directed  to  deliver  them  on  board. 
The  noise  and  confusion  in  the  boat  made  their  advent  quite 
unwelcome,  but  the  scow  being  half  full  of  water  made  their 
coming  on  board  a  necessity.  They  were  ordered  up  the  gang- 
way, each  one  carrying  his  bag  and  hammock ;  as  they  reached 
the  deck,  they  were  ordered  to  "  toe  a  seam,"  the  nautical  equiva- 
lent to  "  form  in  line."  They  were  in  the  first  stage  of  drunken- 
ness, and  that  was  about  all ;  their  expression  was  one  of  entire 
satisfaction  with  themselves, — soon  to  pass  into  another  stage 
less  exuberant.  The  first  lieutenant  expressed  an  unwilling- 
ness to  receive  my  "hearties,"  a  pet  name  sometimes  given  to 
sailors,  but  how  could  he  get  rid  of  them  ?  There  they  were, 
with  bags  and  hammocks,  and  the  scow  no  longer  available  to 
re-transport  them.  He  had  simply  "  Hobson's  choice."  Here 
and  there,  drifting  over  the  earth,  on  board  of  vessels-of-war 
and  elsewhere,  I  have  from  time  to  time  met  several  of  these 
men,  the  last  one  at  the  Naval  Asylum  in  Philadelphia,  where 
he  died  a  dozen  years  ago. 

Nearly  half  a  century  after  the  closing  scene,  the  reader  may 
feel  curious  to  know  the  fate  of  those  persons  more  particularly 
mentioned.  Gist  died  in  1847,  at  his  home.  Maffit  "went 
South,"  and  died  in  the  summer  of  1887.  The  sallow  passed 
midshipman  sat  as  a  member  of  a  court-martial  upon  one  of  the 
members  of  the  mess  who  was  tried  for  murder  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago,  but  who  was  neither  pardoned  nor  hung.  Marcy 
was  killed  by  the  recoil  of  a  boat-howitzer  in  1862.  The  man 
who  went  to  sleep  on  the  topsail-yard,  from  being  "  careless," 
as  he  was  on  that  occasion,  left  the  service,  was  one  of  Walker's 
"  patriots,"  and  was  shot  at  Rivas,  in  Nicaragua.  Another  died 
a  captain  in  the  navy,  more  than  fifteen  years  ago.  Two  "went 
South,"  one  of  whom,  bright  and  genial,  bravely  faces  whatever 


and  directed  that  the  court  should  reverse  its  proceedings.  On  the  14th  of 
May  the  court  reaffirmed  its  former  action,  and  the  President,  in  the  exercise 
of  his  powers,  remitted  the  sentence  of  the  court. 


78  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

ills  he  may  have,  and  his  cheery  smile  awakens  always  kindly 
recollections  of  the  long  ago ;  the  other  rests  in  his  native  soil, 
and  perhaps  did  not  in  the  end  object  to  being  called  as  though 
his  name  were  spelled  Bar-bow.  One  resigned,  studied  medi- 
cine, and  became  a  physician  of  note  on  the  Pacific  coast,  where 
he  has  a  large  practice. 

Shortly  after  being  transferred  from  the  Vandalia,  one  of  the 
midshipmen,  who  was  well-behaved  but  "  had  nothing  in  him," 
received  an  intimation  from  the  Department  that  his  "  resigna- 
tion would  be  acceptable."  He  replied  that  he  was  not  willing 
to  be  suggested  out  of  the  service,  and,  in  nautical  phrase, 
having  "the  right  of  way,  stood  on,"  and  remained  in  the 
service  twenty  years  longer,  more  to  his  own  advantage  than 
that  of  the  country  he  "  served." 

The  poor  fellow  who  spouted  Shakespeare  became  the  inmate 
of  an  insane  asylum,  where  he  could  declaim  without  let  or 
hinderance ;  his  friends  furnished  him  with  a  billiard- table  and 
his  acquaintances  played  with  him.  He  was  usually  humorous 
and  amiable,  but  when  his  luck  failed,  or  he  met  too  skilful  an 
adversary,  a  cloud  would  darken  his  brow,  he  would  "hump 
his  back,"  and  shout,  "  A  horse !  a  horse  !  my  kingdom  for  a 
horse  !"  and  then  reverse  his  cue.  His  visitor,  recognizing  the 
fact  that  billiards  had  ended  and  a  tragedy  was  threatened, 
would  forthwith  beat  a  retreat.  He  thus  lived  thirty  years 
before  his  comic  and  tragic  life  passed  away. 

As  was  then  usual,  and  is  now,  when  a  vessel-of-war  returns 
from  abroad  and  is  put  out  of  commission, — which  means  tem- 
porarily dismantled, — the  officers  of  the  Vandalia  were  granted 
a  three  months'  leave,  and,  with  several  of  my  former  shipmates, 
I  went  up  the  Chesapeake  Bay  to  Baltimore,  homeward  bound. 
Even  half  a  century  ago  the  bay  steamers  were  commodious, 
had  a  speed  of  some  ten  knots  an  hour,  and  were  fairly  adapted 
to  those  waters.  Reaching  Baltimore,  I  went  to  Barnum's  Hotel, 
and  the  next  morning  left  for  Cumberland,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  miles  west. 

When  I  came  East,  three  years  before,  the  railroad  reached  only 
from  Baltimore  to  Frederick,  Maryland.  From  Cumberland 
westward  the  old  stage-coach,  with  its  horn,  blown  not  musically 


ORDERED   TO   THE  SLOOP-OF-WAR   PREBLE.  79 

but  loudly,  apprised  the  people  at  the  "  relay"  of  its  approach, 
so  that  the  horses  might  be  in  readiness.  Our  journey  was  in 
the  early  part  of  December ;  the  snow  covered  the  ground  as  it 
quietly  fell,  and  the  scene  was  a  striking  contrast  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  which  I  had  just  left.  The  bleating  sheep  and  the  low- 
ing cattle  sought  the  lee  of  the  hay-stacks,  that  were  numerous 
along  the  line  of  the  turnpike,  which  was  by  no  means  a  good 
road,  as  we  knew  from  the  bumps  involuntarily  and  suddenly 
bringing  our  heads  against  or  in  close  proximity  to  the  top  of 
the  stage.  After  a  tedious  journey  we  reached  Wheeling,  thence 
going  down  the  Ohio  River  in  the  first  packet  to  Cincinnati. 
These  packets  usually  left  in  the  morning,  but  if  the  stage  was 
late  a  delay  of  nearly  twenty-four  hours  occurred.  This  seemed 
provided  for  by  collusion,  for  the  general  benefit  of  hotel-keepers 
and  the  community  at  large.  In  about  two  days'  travel,  after  an 
absence  of  more  than  three  years  (for  a  youth  a  very  consider- 
able period  of  time),  I  reached  home,  where  I  was  very  warmly 
welcomed  by  my  few  relatives  and  numerous  acquaintances. 

I  received  many  visits  from  old  farmers  and  others  anxious 
to  be  informed  through  me  of  the  wonders  of  the  sea,  of  storms, 
of  the  heights  of  sea- waves,  and  of  the  inhabitants  of  foreign 
parts.  In  their  minds  my  drifting  back  again  to  my  early  home 
was  a  fortuitous  rather  than  a  natural  result,  and,  when  at  length 
I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  would  go  to  sea  again,  the  belief 
was  quite  general  that  I  was  tempting  Providence  to  such  a 
degree  that  when  I  went  thence  I  would  never  more  return. 

Having  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  cruising  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  was  not  a  fair  average  of  sea-life,  and  that  the  Vandalia, 
as  commanded,  was  an  unhappy  example  of  how  wretched  life 
may  be  made  under  the  illusory  cognomen  of  "discipline,"  I 
applied,  after  the  expiration  of  my  three  months'  leave,  for  sea 
service,  and  a  month  or  so  later  was  ordered  to  a  new  sloop-of- 
war,  the  Preble,  fitting  out  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire, 
where  I  joined  her  about  the  middle  of  April,  1840.  This  vessel 
was  of  the  smallest  class,  and  armed  with  sixteen  thirty-two- 
pound  carronades.  Her  commander,  S.  L.  Breese,  afterwards 
a  rear-admiral,  was  a  gentleman,  as,  indeed,  was  each  of  the 
wardroom  officers. 


80  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    TEE  NEW. 

There  were  six  midshipmen,  but  I  was  the  only  one  who  had 
served  on  board  a  vessel-of-war.  "  Teddy"  had  been  to  Calcutta 
on  board  of  a  merchant-ship,  but  had  learned  almost  nothing  as 
to  the  sea.  He  knew  little  of  "  the  ropes"  on  board  ship,  but 
much  of  those  on  shore.  In  the  steerage  we  had  an  assistant 
surgeon  who  had  recently  graduated  in  a  medical  school  in  Paris, 
and  an  old  "  shell-back"  for  captain's  clerk,  who  had  already 
gone  to  sea  nigh  unto  the  ordinary  age  allotted  to  man.  Both  of 
them  were  agreeable,  and  the  younger  midshipmen  were  gentle- 
manly.    Only  one  of  all  those  mentioned  is  now  living. 

SEEVICE   ON    THE    COAST   OF   LABRADOR    AND   IN   THE   MEDI- 
TERRANEAN. 

Soon  after  the  vessel  was  put  in  commission,  we  sailed  for  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  a  region  I  had  been  desirous  of  visiting  ever 
since  reading  "  Falconer's  Shipwreck,"  a  book  presented  to  me 
by  my  friend  Hamer.  Until  the  20th  of  May  the  prevalence 
from  time  to  time  of  bleak  northeasters  made  living  on  board 
ship  in  Portsmouth  harbor  disagreeable.  On  the  2d  of  June 
we  went  to  sea,  and  passed  near  Cashe's  Ledge,  a  ridge  of  sub- 
merged rocks  varying  in  height,  thirty  miles  in  length,  and  about 
sixty  miles  from  land;  there  are  three  shoal  spots,  one  of  thirteen 
fathoms,  another  of  eleven,  and  the  shallowest,  twenty-four  feet, 
is  now  known  on  our  charts  as  the  "  Ammen  Rock,"  being 
named  after  me,  some  ten  years  later,  by  the  late  Rear- Admiral 
Charles  H.  Davis. 

We  were  soon  enveloped  in  the  impenetrable  fog  of  that  re- 
gion, prevailing  especially  during  that  season  of  the  year ;  this 
haze,  however,  has  no  great  height;  looking  upward,  the  sun  is 
seen  almost  always  during  the  day,  and  at  night  the  moon  and 
stars  are  visible ;  the  clouds,  in  fact,  settle  to  the  surface  of  the 
water.  This  mist  begets  feelings  of  melancholy  in  those  unac- 
customed to  fogs,  and  of  apprehension  in  mariners.  At  any 
moment  one  vessel  may  run  into  another  or  be  run  into,  and  yet, 
up  to  to-day,  no  intelligent  method  has  been  agreed  upon  be- 
tween the  maritime  nations  to  prevent  collisions.  From  time  to 
time  a  vessel  is  run  into  and  many  people  perish,  and  then  a 


THE  MCNABB.  81 

frantic  yell  arises ;  this  dies  away,  no  action  is  taken ;  another 
catastrophe  occurs  ;  and  so  it  goes  on  from  year  to  year,  without 
betterment.  It  is  doubtless  possible  greatly  to  lessen  the  num- 
ber of  these  catastrophes  by  proper  regulations  and  sound-sig- 
nals indicating  roughly  the  courses  steered.  Almost  constantly 
enveloped  in  the  fog,  with  no  means  of  ascertaining  our  position 
other  than  by  "  dead  reckoning,"  after  eight  days  we  sighted  the 
bold  promontory  known  as  Cape  Sambro,  and  entered  Halifax 
harbor,  embowered  in  beautifully-green,  picturesque  hills. 

During  our  stay  of  ten  days  we  had  the  honor  of  a  visit  from 
Sir  Colin  Campbell,  then  governor,  who  had  the  good  taste  to 
bring  along  a  charming  daughter,  barely  in  her  teens.  The 
army  officers,  as  is  usual  wherever  there  is  a  British  garrison, 
came  on  board,  proffering  their  hospitality,  and  the  citizens  were 
no  less  attentive,  among  them  a  "  McNabb."  Whether  he  was 
"The  McNabb"  that  had  left  his  card  on  Colonel  McNabb 
when  ordered  to  Canada  years  before,  I  don't  know.  It  is  said 
that  the  colonel  leaving  his  card  wrote,  "  The  other  McNabb." 
A  Scotch  friend  tells  that  a  fearful  condition  was  thus  brought 
about.  Said  "The  McNabb,"  "What  does  the  fellow  mean? 
I  am  The  McNabb,  and  there  is  no  other  The  McNabb  !"  For 
ourselves  we  would  have  recognized  the  one  whose  acquaintance 
we  made  at  that  time  as  "  The  McNabb,"  against  all  pretenders 
to  that  honor  ! 

On  leaving  Halifax  we  again  encountered  the  usual  fogs ;  our 
first  sighting  was  the  bold  outline  of  Grand  Menan  Island  j  the 
next  day  we  entered  the  port  of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
which  seemed  quite  like  a  Yankee  village, — a  thriving  little 
place.  The  extraordinary  rise  and  fall  of  the  tides  and  the 
length  of  days'  at  that  season  of  the  year  were  quite  new  to  me. 
We  did  not  tarry,  and  two  days  after  sailing  entered  Swallow 
harbor  on  the  outer  part  of  Grand  Menan  Island.  There  were 
a  few  small  houses  near  the  beach,  and  the  bold  heights  were 
covered  by  a  superb  growth  of  hemlock.  Three  days  later  we 
anchored  at  Portland,  Maine,  where  we  were  to  obtain  further 
instructions  from  the  Navy  Department.  The  object  of  our 
cruise  was  to  protect  our  fishermen  from  the  outrages  even  then 
imposed  upon  them. 

6 


82  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

The  beauty  of  Casco  Bay,  of  which  Portland  harbor  forms  a 
part,  has  been  acknowledged  by  all  who  have  visited  that  local- 
ity, and  the  fascinations  of  her  fair  daughters  are  in  song  and 
story.  The  same  generous  hospitality  was  given  us  as  at  Hali- 
fax, although  we  missed  the  counterpart  of  "  The  McNabb," 
who  has  impressed  himself  indelibly  and  joyously  on  our  mem- 
ory. There  was  a  very  bright  young  lady,  charming  in  manner, 
varied  in  accomplishments,  and  whom,  nearly  half  a  century 
thereafter,  when  in  Washington,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
again,  and  •  found  scarcely  less  attractive.  Who  can  deny  that 
Yankee  women  have  endearing  and  enduring  qualities  ? 

We  left  Portland  on  the  4th  of  July,  although  the  prohibi- 
tion law  did  not  then  exist  nor  was  it  even  proposed.  Ten  days 
later  found  us  at  the  Isle  du  Bois  in  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle, 
whence  we  passed  from  port  to  port.  The  whole  coast  of  Lab- 
rador is  lined  with  these  little  rocky  harbors,  often  not  more 
than  a  dozen  miles  apart,  with  water  so  clear  that  the  bottom 
may  be  seen  at  a  depth  of  several  fathoms.  The  west  coast  of 
Newfoundland  is  studded  with  bold,  precipitous  cliifs,  appar- 
ently without  a  break  for  miles,  and  at  that  season  we  observed 
numerous  cascades  falling  from  considerable  heights  into  the  sea. 
We  met  a  number  of  small  icebergs  in  those  waters,  but  not 
nearly  so  many  nor  so  large  as  those  beyond  Belle  Isle  on  the 
open  waters  of  the  Atlantic. 

On  the  21st  of  July  we  anchored  at  Size  harbor,  where  we 
had  a  very  heavy  blow,  and,  though  we  had  two  anchors  down 
and  a  kedge  planted  ahead  on  the  shore  with  a  heavy  hawser,  we 
were  nearly  dragged  on  the  beach.  As  we  entered,  the  water 
was  smooth  and  the  breeze  quite  fresh,  and  as  we  sailed  along, 
ten  knots  an  hour,  the  water  became  so  clear  that  it  seemed  pos- 
sible we  might  strike  the  bottom  at  any  moment.  We  passed 
so  rapidly  from  port  to  port  that  I  confess  to  little  distinct  rec- 
ollection as  to  the  one  locality  or  the  other,  until  we  sailed  out  of 
the  strait  and  anchored  near  Cape  Charles,  some  twenty  miles 
north  of  Belle  Isle. 

The  coast  of  Labrador  north  of  the  strait  is  a  series  of  har- 
bors, little  and  great,  some  of  them  extending  inland  for  miles. 
It  is  formed  of  bold  faces  of  rugged  basaltic  rocks,  usually  hav- 


VISIT  TO  A    COAST  RESIDENCE.  83 

ing  interior  communications  between  the  outlying  islands  that 
on  entering  appear  to  form  a  part  of  the  mainland.  In  many  of 
these  indentations  and  havens  at  that  time  two  or  three  families 
resided,  to  care  for  the  small  wharves  and  buildings  devoted  to 
the  curing  of  codfish  by  partially  drying  them  in  the  sun. 

The  doctor  and  myself  visited  one  of  these  residences,  which 
we  found  comfortable  for  so  small  a  house,  and  very  neatly  kept. 
At  the  door  we  were  met  by  a  very  natty-looking  woman,  about 
forty  years  of  age,  who  at  the  doctor's  salute  of  "  Bon  jour, 
madame,"  seemed  to  be  electrified.  We  were  invited  in  and 
seats  were  offered,  with  great  affability  and  with  a  perfect  deluge 
of  French  words ;  she  said  that  she  was  from  Quebec,  and  had 
lived  at  her  present  residence  for  twenty  years ;  a  bottle  of  gin 
having  a  number  of  pieces  of  orange-peel  in  it  was  brought  out, 
and  we  were  assured  of  its  delicacy  of  flavor.  The  doctor 
complimented  her  on  the  neatness  of  her  house;  our  hostess 
took  down  a  silver  watch  that  had  long  been  silent,  and  told 
him  that  she  polished  it  daily ;  it  was  ornamental,  if  no  longer 
useful.  In  reply  to  her  inquiry,  the  doctor  informed  her  that 
he  had  learned  French  in  Paris,  upon  which  she  made  him  a 
profound  bow.  About  this  time  her  husband  entered ;  to  this 
she  demurred,  remarking  that  "she  had  gentlemen  in  her 
house,"  and  he  could  hardly  be  reckoned  in  that  category.  He 
was  small,  rather  insignificant  in  appearance,  and  gracefully 
submitted  to  the  will  of  the  head  of  the  family.  The  half- 
dozen  dogs,  she  said,  were  to  haul  wood  from  the  mountain 
when  the  snow  set  in,  and  she  remarked  that  in  the  winter, 
when  the  fishermen  were  away,  with  only  two  other  families  at 
their  harbor,  it  was  rather  lonesome,  but  that  on  the  one  side 
and  the  other  some  miles  distant  were  other  families. 

Along  the  whole  coast  near  the  water  the  rocks  rise  up  in 
masses,  and  are  covered  with  a  long  lichen  which  waving  in 
the  breeze  resembles  the  Spanish  moss  of  Florida  that  haugs  so 
gracefully  upon  the  trees.  Within  the  ravines,  sheltered  from 
the  winds,  there  is  a  sturdy  growth  of  wood,  rarely  six  feet  in 
height,  but  very  tough  and  gnarled,  so  that  in  ascending  the 
mountains  it  was  found  necessary  to  keep  in  the  bed  of  the 
small  mountain  rivulets.     At  distances  not  far  apart  little  ponds 


84  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

filled  with  trout  were  found ;  never  having  been  fished  for,  they 
knew  no  fear.  Standing  in  water  a  foot  deep,  numbers  of  them, 
not  larger  than  our  brook-trout,  would  swim  around  and  near 
my  feet,  in  the  consciousness  of  security.  On  arriving  at  the 
summit  of  these  heights,  of  a  thousand  or  more  feet,  and  look- 
ing to  seaward,  many  icebergs,  far  and  near,  were  seen  glittering 
in  the  sun  and  flecking  the  distant  horizon ;  near  by,  in  the 
deep-blue  sea,  were  grounded  icebergs,  the  waves  breaking  upon 
them  as  upon  the  rocky  coast ;  and  inland,  an  undulating  sur- 
face clothed  in  the  daintiest  green,  bounded  by  the  distant  hori- 
zon, and  dotted  with  many  lakes.  I  know  of  no  locality  so 
rich  in  promise  to  our  yachtsmen  of  a  sporting  proclivity  as  the 
coast  of  Labrador  in  the  vicinity  of  Belle  Isle.  A  species  of 
sand-fly,  very  rapid  in  its  movements,  and  in  countless  numbers, 
would  assault  us  on  our  excursions,  and  where  they  lighted  on 
the  face  an  immediate  blood-mark  would  follow. 

At  that  time  the  pocket  aneroid  was  unknown, — a  little  instru- 
ment that,  when  properly  cared  for,  gives  surprising  results ;  so 
the  elevations  we  reached  are  conjectural.  I  had  a  rifle,  carrying 
a  round  ball  of  forty  to  the  pound  ;  the  conical  ball,  although 
I  had  seen  it  four  years  before  as  used  in  Hall's  breech-loading 
carbine,  had  not  yet  come  into  general  use.  We  were  told  that 
the  icebergs  brought  down  polar  bears,  which  from  time  to 
time  would  swim  on  shore  and  make  their  way  north.  Black 
bears  were  also  said  to  be  found  in  the  interior.  Although  I 
hunted  for  them,  none  were  found,  which  was,  I  think,  just  as 
well  for  me,  for  the  reason  that  the  main-spring  of  the  lock  of 
my  gun  was  too  weak,  and  frequently  failed  to  explode  the  cap, 
and,  even  had  it  done  so,  a  round  ball  of  forty  to  the  pound 
would  rarely  do  a  heavy  bear  much  immediate  harm  even  when 
well  directed. 


WHALES  IN  THE   GULF  OF  ST.  LAWRENCE.  85 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Whales  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence— Story  of  a  Sword-Fish— Sea-Fowl,  Fish, 
and  Seals — Run  on  a  Ledge  of  Rocks — The  Bay  of  Fundy — Halifax — 
Portland — John  Savage,  alias  Hans  Wildemann — Crossing  the  Atlantic, 
and  Service  in  the  Mediterranean — Lisbon — The  Carnival — Port  Mahon 
— The  Author  transferred  to  the  Ohio,  Commodore  Hull — Rear- Admiral 
Dupont — A  Sirocco — The  Andalusians — Gibraltar — Death  of  a  Sailor — 
Arrival  at  Boston — Three  Months'  Leave — Naval  School  at  Philadelphia 
— David  McLure — Small-Pox  in  the  Naval  School — Professor  Chauvenet 
— John  Hogan,  "  from  the  South." 

In  the  upper  part  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  we  saw  great 
numbers  of  whales :  on  one  occasion  there  seemed  to  be  hundreds, 
said,  by  those  who  pretended  to  know,  to  be  fin-backs,  a  very 
active  and  rather  lean  kind,  involving  in  its  capture,  at  that  time, 
more  risk  than  profit,  and  therefore  let  alone.  Owing  to  the 
advance  of  knowledge  in  destructive  methods,  the  fin-back  is 
now  an  object  of  pursuit,  and  killed  by  means  of  bombs  thrown 
into  him  from  small  guns  that  can  be  manipulated  from  the 
shoulder.  The  advance  in  destruction  was  gradual, — first  by 
the  use  of  prussic  acid  in  a  fragile  phial  inserted  in  a  cavity  of 
a  harpoon,  followed  by  the  use  of  a  kind  of  cross-bow  to  throw 
the  harpoon,  and  finally  by  the  use  of  gunpowder  to  project  the 
weapon.  But  now  so  many  substitutes  for  whale-oil  are  found 
that  relatively  few  ships  are  employed  in  the  whale-fisheries, 
and  whales  will  doubtless  become  more  numerous,  until  they  can 
be  captured  with  more  profit  than  at  present.  A  considerable 
number  of  grampus  were  seen  ;  they  are  about  twenty  feet  in 
length,  and  are  very  common  all  along  our  Atlantic  coast. 

On  one  occasion,  in  the  early  morning,  when  the  fresh  breeze 
made  white-caps  on  the  water,  a  large  number  of  whales  were 
feeding,  much  as  porpoises  feed,  the  ship  passing  through  their 
line  at  a  speed  of  ten  miles  an  hour.  This  brought  us  quite  near 
a  very  large  fellow  when  he  came  to  the  surface  on  our  weather 
bow.  Very  much  frightened  at  seeing  the  ship  so  near,  he 
dived  precipitately,  throwing  his  flukes  high  in  the  air,  and  so 


86  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

near  that  it  seemed  to  me  impossible  that  he  should  not  strike 
the  ship.     Standing  near  the  bow,  I  got  out  of  the  way  in  haste. 

All  along  the  Labrador  coast,  parts  of  their  disjointed  skele- 
tons are  seen  lying  among  the  rocks.  They  have  a  good  many 
enemies, — among  others,  the  "  thrasher,"  a  large  fish,  that  leaps 
out  of  the  water  and  comes  down  on  his  victim  with  great  force. 
The  thrashers  appear  to  attack  not  singly,  but  several  at  a  time, 
and  may  be  aided  by  the  sword-fish,  which  certainly  does  not 
carry  his  long,  formidable  projection  for  ornament.  This  fish  is 
very  voracious,  and  requires  a  large  amount  of  food.  It  is  an 
authenticated  fact  that  a  vessel  on  being  docked  was  found  to 
have  a  long  piece  of  the  hard  projection  known  as  the  sword 
driven  entirely  through  the  outer  planking  and  inner  sheathing  : 
it  must  have  required  great  force  to  penetrate  through  such  a 
mass  of  hard  wood.* 

On  the  20th  of  July,  at  Red  Bay,  the  snow-line  extended 
along  the  hill-sides  to  within  one  hundred  feet  of  the  water ; 
below  that  line,  and  in  sheltered  places,  under  the  lee  of  rocky 

*  A  curious  confirmation  of  the  "  lore  of  the  sea"  expressed  in  the  above 
of  the  combats  of  fishes  is  published  in  the  daily  press,  May  24,  1889,  of 
Philadelphia.  The  British  bark  Stafford  had  just  arrived  from  Barbadoes. 
The  captain  said,  "  We  were  off  Cape  Hatteras,  and  the  ocean  was  radiant 
and  aglow  with  the  beams  of  the  setting  sun.  An  hour  or  so  before,  a  shark 
had  been  harpooned  and  hauled  on  board ;  he  had  followed  the  vessel  for  three 
days,  escorted  by  a  school  of  pilot-fish.  Not  many  minutes  after  the  carcass 
of  the  shark  had  been  thrown  overboard,  I  was  in  my  cabin,  and  the  men 
lounging  forward,  when  there  came  a  heavy  thud.  The  bark  trembled  from 
stem  to  stern.  I  ran  on  deck  and  asked  the  mate  what  had  happened,  who 
replied,  l  We  have  been  struck.'  It  was  thought  that  the  vessel  might  have 
struck  a  partially-sunken  wreck  ;  but  a  careful  glance  at  the  unbroken  surface 
over  which  we  had  just  passed  gave  no  token,  so  the  incident  was  forgotten 
until,  on  docking,  some  boys  saw  what  looked  like  a  white  sword-blade — one 
of  those  old  heavy  sword-blades — sticking  out  of  the  hull.  When  we  came 
to  examine  it,  the  shock  off  Cape  Hatteras  was  explained.  It  flashed  through 
my  mind  that  the  sword-fish  had  taken  us  for  a  whale  and  meant  butchery 
when  it  stabbed  our  side.  The  sword  completely  pierced  the  pine  boarding, 
penetrating  as  far  as  the  oak  ;  this  was  too  hard  for  it,  and  the  fish  was  caught. 
In  its  struggles  to  get  free  it  broke  its  weapon  and  left  this  part  in  the  wound : 
it  is  about  seven  inches  long.  "  I  should  not  quite  agree  with  the  captain  in 
the  idea  that  the  fish  had  struggled  to  get  away ;  in  inflicting  such  a  shock  to 
so  large  a  mass  as  the  vessel  it  did  not  do  less  to  itself,  and  was  doubtless  killed 
at  the  instant  of  striking. 


SEA-FOWL,  FISH,  AND  SEALS.  87 

ledges,  wherever  the  ground  was  uncovered,  the  "  mate  apple" 
grew  luxuriantly  :  it  had  leaves  resembling  the  strawberry,  but 
much  larger.  We  were  told  that  it  produced  a  berry  of  indif- 
ferent flavor.  I  was  sent  in  charge  of  a  boat  to  water  ship,  and, 
pulling  along  the  landlocked  waters,  saw  a  limpid  rivulet. 
After  landing,  a  brief  examination  enabled  me  to  turn  the  course 
of  the  stream  by  means  of  a  few  stones,  so  that  it  would  fall 
over  a  ledge  of  rocks,  where  the  boat  could  lie  snugly,  and  a 
canvas  hose  be  led  from  the  brook  to  the  funnel  in  the  cask ; 
this  greatly  delighted  the  men,  who  were  spared  dipping  up  and 
filling  the  water  into  the  hose.  The  harbor  was  alive  with  fish, 
among  others  the  "  caplin,"  about  the  size  of  a  sardine,  caught 
by  the  fishermen  in  great  numbers  for  bait.  It  was  a  very  dainty 
morsel,  much  more  so  than  the  smelt.  Covering  the  waters  were 
many  sea-fowl,  but  no  ducks,  such  as  frequent  our  waters.  There 
was  a  bird  known  to  the  fishermen  as  the  "  parrot  duck,"  having 
a  beak  like  a  parrot ;  when  wounded  and  caught,  it  would  bite 
viciously.  Its  skin  was  as  tough  as  that  of  a  beast.  Many  of 
our  fishing-vessels  visited  that  coast,  and,  anchoring  in  sheltered 
places,  sent  their  small  boats  to  the  feeding-banks  near  the 
mouths  of  the  inlets,  whence  they  would  soon  return,  loaded  to 
the  gunwale.  The  depth  of  the  water  in  which  the  fish  were 
caught  was  from  five  to  ten  fathoms ;  they  were  small,  rarely 
over  ten  pounds,  and  usually  not  more  than  half  that  weight. 
Those  caught  in  deep  water  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland 
and  elsewhere  are  very  much  larger :  the  deeper  the  water  the 
larger  the  fish.  I  have  seen  them  fifty-four  pounds  in  weight, 
but  less  than  half  that  weight  is  about  the  average  of  bank 
fish. 

In  the  long  twilights  and  by  the  light  of  the  auroras,  which 
were  almost  nightly,  the  hair-seals  sported  around  the  vessel, 
looking  at  her  with  great  curiosity :  as  they  were  not  harmed, 
they  soon  became  quite  tame,  very  sportive  in  their  plays  with 
each  other,  and  interesting  in  their  movements,  with  their  heads 
above  water,  and  barking  occasionally  in  a  resonant  key.  The 
auroras  were  gorgeous  and  weird,  and  well  deserved  the  appella- 
tion given  them  of  "  the  dance  of  spirits."  They  varied  in  hue 
from  a  pearly  white  to  a  rosy  tinge,  and  shot  from  the  northern 


88  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

horizon  with  great  rapidity,  across  the  zenith,  to  within  forty 
degrees,  or  less,  of  the  southern  horizon,  varying  in  hue  and  in- 
tensity of  light.  So  brilliant  were  they  that  the  precipices  and 
rocks,  covered  with  lichens,  were  plainly  visible,  while  mountain- 
heights  and  sea-views,  with  numerous  icebergs,  grounded  or 
still  afloat,  were  illuminated  with  the  rapidly-changing  colors. 
There  is  no  actual  darkness  during  the  period  of  long  days 
in  high  latitudes :  the  sun  appears  to  linger  on  the  edge, 
and  finally  falls  below  the  horizon.  Beneath  the  pole  it 
pursues  the  reverse  course,  with  a  faint  streak  of  light,  as  of  a 
rising  sun. 

On  the  27th  of  July,  when  standing  out  of  a  harbor,  we  ran 
on  a  ledge  of  rocks,  on  the  first  quarter  of  an  ebb-tide.  The 
water  was  landlocked,  and  our  only  danger  was  of  the  vessel 
toppling  over  when  the  tide  would  fall, — some  ten  feet.  We  got 
down  our  light  yards  and  top-gallant  masts,  housed  the  top- 
masts, got  our  spare  spars  rigged  as  shores  over  the  sides,  and 
well  lashed,  to  hold  the  vessel  on  her  keel,  brought  a  small 
schooner  alongside,  unloaded  our  shot  and  other  heavy  bodies, 
and  pumped  the  water  in  the  casks  overboard,  to  insure  our  get- 
ting off  at  high  tide,  which  was  effected  without  other  damage 
than  splintering  a  little  of  the  false  keel  and  tearing  the  copper 
in  several  places. 

The  next  day,  as  soon  as  we  got  afloat,  we  set  about  sending 
up  spars,  setting  up  riggiug,  getting  in  the  shot  and  other 
articles,  and,  as  quickly  as  this  could  be  effected,  got  under  way 
to  pass  out.  After  getting  into  rough  water,  the  wind  headed 
us ;  not  taking  advantage  of  it,  and  putting  the  helm  down  to 
go  about,  we  filled  away,  and  then  had  to  tack  ship  unpleasantly 
near  a  lee  shore  with  little  headway.  The  affair  was  "  a  touch 
and  go."  Had  the  vessel  missed  stays,  that  would  have  been 
the  last  of  the  Preble ;  but  I  suppose,  under  the  lee  of  the 
hull,  we  should  all  have  been  able  to  reach  the  rocks  in  safety, 
unless  some  of  us  had  been  killed  by  falling  spars  when  the 
vessel  struck.  Soon  after,  we  were  safely  at  sea,  with  a  head- 
wind and  under  double-reefed  topsails  and  foresail.  As  the  sun 
went  down,  we  ran  into  one  of  the  many  little  niches  on  the 
coast,  and  anchored.     The  activity  of  movement  from  port  to 


PORTLAND.  89 

port,  getting  tinder  way  and  anchoring,  was  of  great  advantage 
to  the  young  officers,  who  learned  more  in  a  few  months  than 
was  usual  in  making  a  three  years'  cruise. 

About  the  1st  of  September  we  passed  through  the  Gut  of 
Canso,  a  very  picturesque  water,  and  a  week  later  anchored  in 
Portland  harbor,  where  we  saw  "  the  sweethearts  that  never 
became  our  wives."  Two  weeks  later,  we  were  in  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  and  went  into  Annapolis,  opposite  to  St.  John's.  The 
beautiful  woods  that  lined  the  shores  were  filled  with  pheasants, 
and,  what  was  to  us  quite  interesting,  the  bay  at  high  water  ex- 
tended to  the  foot-hills,  but  at  low  tide  was  far  out,  so  that  it 
was  in  most  places  only  practicable  to  land  about  the  time  of 
high  water. 

Passing  out  to  sea,  in  the  narrow  entrance  the  wind  scanted, 
and  we  let  go  an  anchor  to  prevent  being  thrown  on  shore  by 
the  strong  current.  We  swung  around  with  great  rapidity, 
heading  into  the  harbor.  Before  getting  under  way,  in  com- 
mon with  my  boat's  crew,  I  ran  great  danger  of  being  drowned, 
in  taking  a  hawser  into  the  boat  when  hanging  by  a  line  from 
the  jib-boom.  We  could  have  done  this  just  as  well,  and  safely, 
by  hanging  to  a  Jacob's  ladder  astern.  We  lived  through  the 
attempt  more  by  good  luck  than  good  management,  and  I 
learned  something  of  value,  by  indirection. 

Very  soon  the  tide  ran  more  than  seven  miles  an  hour ;  we 
landed  the  hawser  far  astern  of  the  ship,  although  the  shore  was 
very  near,  and  then,  with  great  labor,  carried  the  end  up  the 
beach,  to  make  it  fast  around  a  tree.  The  hawser  was  set  taut ; 
but  the  wind  freshening,  we  got  under  way.  Before  we  tripped 
anchor,  we  had  made  sail  to  top-gallant  sails  and  foresail  with 
the  wind  on  the  quarter,  and  were  going  through  the  water  quite 
seven  knots  ;  by  the  force  of  the  tide  we  were,  nevertheless,  set 
bodily  out,  stern  foremost,  two  or  three  knots  an  hour.  Short- 
ening sail,  we  wore  ship,  and  with  a  freshening  breeze  were 
soon  at  anchor  at  St.  John's,  across  the  bay. 

We  backed  and  filled  between  Halifax  and  Portland  until 
the  4th  of  November,  when,  with  a  fresh  breeze,  we  left  the 
latter  port  for  Boston,  catching  sight  of  Mount  Washington, 
covered  with  snow,  as  soon  as  we  got  clear  of  the  land. 


90  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

We  had  on  board  some  very  smart  seamen, — among  others, 
John  Savage ;  he  was  more  than  fifty  years  of  age,  marked 
badly  with  the  small-pox ;  he  had  fine  black  eyes,  was  intelli- 
gent and  educated.  Although  on  board  the  Vandalia,  in  the 
Gulf,  I  had  learned  to  get  longitude  with  chronometer-sights, 
and,  of  course,  to  get  the  latitude  by  noon  observations,  and 
also  by  dead  reckoning,  I  was  indebted  to  Savage  for  further 
instruction.  He  said  he  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Dutch  navy, 
and  when  Napoleon  became  its  master  he  was  either  turned  out 
or  resigned.  I  asked  him  how  a  Hollander  could  be  named 
"  John  Savage."  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  my  name  was  Hans  Wilde- 
mann  ;  and  what  is  Hans  but  John,  and  Wildemann  but  Sav- 
age?" Long  after,  I  saw  Savage  in  our  Naval  Asylum,  in 
Philadelphia,  where  he  doubtless  died. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  January,  1841,  we  cast  adrift 
from  the  navy-yard  wharf  at  Boston,  after  having  made  sail, 
and,  with  a  fresh  northwest  breeze,  were  soon  out  of  the  har- 
bor, on  our  way  to  Lisbon,  thence  to  the  Mediterranean  for  a 
cruise. 

The  officers  were  almost  without  exception  changed,  save  those 
in  the  steerage.  Our  old  sheldrake  of  a  captain's  clerk  had 
given  place  to  a  young  gentleman  of  agreeable  manners  and  a 
delightful  messmate.  He  is  one  of  the  few  survivors,  and  it  is 
a  pleasure  to  know  that  after  forty-eight  years  of  active  life  he 
is  still  as  cheery  and  benevolent  as  of  old. 

After  we  got  out  of  sight  of  land,  beyond  Cape  Cod,  we  had 
a  northeast  snow-storm,  and,  not  having  reefed  our  topsails  until 
it  was  quite  dark,  had  a  troublesome  and  lengthy  job,  because 
the  yards  were  not  laid  properly  to  spill  the  sails.  As  officer 
stationed  in  the  main-top,  I  was  aloft  for  an  hour  or  more,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  safety,  went  aloft  without  an  overcoat,  the  vessel 
rolling  very  heavily.  When  I  came  down,  my  hands  were  so 
benumbed  with  cold  that  I  had  no  feeling  of  touch  in  them ; 
in  order  to  secure  myself,  I  was  obliged  to  thrust  my  arms 
inside  of  the  shrouds  (which  are  large  ropes  sustaining  the 
masts),  and  then  bring  my  hands  up,  so  that  they  would  nearly 
touch  each  other,  and  so  held  on  with  the  muscles  at  my  elbows. 
This  was  not  at  all  safe  or  pleasant,  but  it  was  the  best,  and 


THE   CARNIVAL.  91 

indeed  the  only,  thing  to  be  done,  to  get  down.  Not  a  few  sea- 
men on  such  occasions  are  thrown  overboard  by  the  switching 
of  the  shrouds,  when  the  rigging  is  too  slack.  When  the  snow- 
storm was  over,  the  wind  came  round  to  the  westward  and  blew 
fresh  all  the  way  across  the  ocean,  and  there  was  not  a  dry  spot 
on  the  deck  until  we  entered  Lisbon  harbor,  just  one  month 
after  sailing. 

We  reached  the  coast  in  exactly  twenty  days,  but  the  timidity 
of  old  navy  men  of  that  day  on  approaching  land  was  quite 
extraordinary  and  annoying. 

On  an  island  just  within  the  entrance  of  Lisbon  harbor  is  the 
picturesque  Belem  Castle,  surrounded  then  by  other  fortifications 
of  later  date.  It  was  built  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  of 
course  at  this  period  would  be  found  far  more  ornamental  than 
useful.  The  harbor  of  Lisbon,  surrounded  by  its  green  hills, 
with  Cintra  in  the  distance,  is  very  beautiful.  On  walking 
through  the  city,  the  ruins  of  the  earthquake  of  1755  were  yet 
to  be  seen. 

It  would  have  been  well  if  all  that  part  of  the  city  that  had 
been  thrown  down  at  that  time  had  never  been  built  up  again, 
but  the  ruins  taken  away  and  the  spaces  converted  into  orna- 
mental grounds.  It  has  been  fully  established  by  geologists 
that  there  are  two  quite  distinct  formations  beneath  the  city, 
and  while  one  gave  vent  to  the  disruptive  forces  the  other 
remained  intact.  By  the  earthquake  from  thirty  to  forty  thou- 
sand of  the  inhabitants  perished, — probably  one-fifth  of  the 
population, — and  four  years  later  the  city  was  scourged  by  the 
yellow  fever  to  a  fearful  extent.  Charming  as  is  the  landscape, 
and  mild  as  is  the  wintry  climate,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  from 
want  of  sanitary  knowledge,  it  was  an  unhealthy  place,  and  it 
is  so  even  at  this  date ;  the  river  Tagus  was  a  swollen,  muddy 
stream,  anything  but  attractive. 

We  arrived  in  time  for  the  Carnival,  and  went  to  the  mas- 
querade ball  in  the  Grand  Opera  House.  The  over-polite 
attentions  of  the  fine  ladies  with  masks  to  our  young  officers 
were  quite  overwhelming :  the  better  classes,  of  course,  do  not 
go  on  the  floor,  but  the  boxes  were  filled  with  them.  On  the 
floor  with  the  masqueraders  were  a  number  of  foreign  officers 


92  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

of  different  nationalities,  who  were  in  uniforms;  all  others 
being  in  fancy  dress  and  masked. 

The  latitude  of  Lisbon  is  nearly  39°,  about  the  same  as  that 
of  the  Capes  of  the  Delaware,  but,  situated  on  the  shore  of  the 
broad  Atlantic,  the  prevalence  of  westerly  winds  tempers  the 
climate  wonderfully :  the  part  of  the  bifurcated  ocean  current 
that  passes  south,  close  to  the  coast,  tends  greatly  to  this  amelio- 
ration. 

"  Childe  Harold"  does  justice  to  the  beautiful  scenery  on 
entering : 

"  Oh,  Christ !  it  is  a  goodly  sight  to  see 
What  Heaven  hath  done  for  this  delicious  land ; 
What  fruits  of  fragrance  blush  on  every  tree ! 
What  goodly  prospects  o'er  the  hills  expand!" 

We  found  the  city  delightful,  and  the  inhabitants  of  rank 
were  most  courteous  to  navy  officers.  After  ten  days  in  harbor, 
we  left  for  Port  Mahon,  the  rendezvous  of  our  squadron  at  that 
time. 

In  the  winter,  the  weather  in  the  Mediterranean  is  very  rough, 
and,  as  the  sea  is  narrow  and  the  gales  sudden,  sailing-vessels 
usually  laid  up  in  the  severe  season,  refitting  rigging,  and  doing 
what  overhauling  seemed  advisable,  many  of  the  officers  and 
sailors  went  on  shore  in  the  evening,  to  the  theatre  or  to  parties. 

The  Mahonese  were  a  very  kind  and  industrious  people,  and 
at  that  time  their  support  was  largely  derived  from  supplying 
the  necessities  and  luxuries  of  our  rather  large  squadron ;  we 
had  then  somewhat  over  two  thousand  men  and  officers  on  that 
station. 

Mahon  was  a  perfect  harbor  for  the  old  clumpy  line-of-battle- 
ships,  but  the  long  modern  men-of-war  would  have  no  room 
there  to  swing  at  their  anchors.  We  found  in  winter-quarters 
our  finest  line-of-battle-ship,  the  Ohio,  flying  the  flag  of  Isaac 
Hull,  who  captured  the  GuerriSre  in  the  war  with  Great  Britain, 
when  in  command  of  the  Constitution  ;  the  frigate  Brandywine, 
the  sloop-of-war  Fairfield,  and  one  or  two  other  vessels  of  like 
class.  The  Ohio  had  nearly  completed  her  cruise,  and  on  the 
last  of  May  I  was  transferred  to  her,  to  return  home  for  a 


GIBRALTAR.  93 

term  at  the  Naval  School.  The  late  Rear- Admiral  Samuel  F. 
Dupont  was  the  second  lieutenant,  and  I  was  assigned  to  his 
watch. 

In  getting  under  way  at  Mahon,  a  top-block  fell  out  of  the 
main-top  and  struck  very  near  where  I  stood :  had  it  bounced 
in  my  direction  it  would  have  ended  my  cruising. 

Eight  days  after  sailing,  when  off  Malaga,  we  had  a  sirocco, 
and  anchored  a  mile  off  the  mole  of  that  port.  These  hot,  dry 
winds,  bearing  very  minute  particles  of  sharp  sand,  cause  a 
painful  ophthalmia,  from  which,  in  common  with  many  ship- 
mates, I  suffered.  We  had  an  opportunity  of  going  on  shore, 
and  of  receiving  many  of  the  inhabitants  on  board  of  the  vessel. 
Visiting  our  vessels-of-war  was  one  of  the  pastimes  of  the 
people  in  cities  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  for  the 
reason  that  they  always  had  a  courteous  reception.  The  Anda- 
lusians  were  certainly  a  charming  people  in  appearance,  in  their 
neat  fanciful  dress,  and  the  senoritas  were  very  sprightly  and 
pretty.  The  hilly  country  close  around,  and  the  mountain- 
range  not  far  in  the  interior,  gave  the  usual  trim  wiry  figure  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  region. 

After  remaining  at  anchor  two  or  three  days,  we  got  under 
way  with  a  head-wind,  and,  after  a  two  days'  beat,  anchored  in 
the  roadstead  of  Gibraltar,  called  by  courtesy  a  harbor.  The 
rock,  sixty  marine  miles  distant,  was  plainly  in  sight  from  our 
anchorage  off  Malaga,  and,  with  a  moderately  fresh  top-gallant 
breeze  and  bright  moonlight  nights,  I  have  never  experienced 
so  delightful  a  sail.  We  would  stand  on  and  off  the  coast  in 
stretches  of  two  or  three  hours,  and  would  not  tack  ship  when 
standing  in-shore,  even  after  night,  until  in  the  clear  light  of 
the  moon  the  white  houses  on  the  hill-sides  were  plainly  visible. 

After  remaining  at  anchor  at  Gibraltar  four  days,  a  Levanter 
set  in,  which  means  a  strong  easterly  wind,  and  we  were  soon 
on  our  way  to  the  Atlantic.  As  every  one  knows,  a  very  strong 
current  sets  in  the  straits  when  westerly  winds  are  blowing, 
making  it  almost  impossible  for  a  square-rigged  vessel  to  beat 
out,  and,  as  westerly  winds  sometimes  continue  for  weeks,  hun- 
dreds of  vessels  anchor  in  the  roadstead,  and  go  to  sea  as  soon 
as  the  change  of  wind  favors  them. 


94  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

On  our  way  seaward,  in  the  forenoon,  an  old  invalided  sailor 
dragged  himself  up  from  below,  aided  by  some  of  his  shipmates, 
and  seated  himself  on  the  partners  of  the  foremast ;  he  looked 
out  upon  the  broad  Atlantic  and  said,  "  Ah  !  now  I  shall  soon 
be  well ;  this  air  will  cure  me."  Soon  after,  his  head  drooped 
upon  the  fife-rail,  and  he  apparently  went  to  sleep,  but  it  was 
the  sleep  of  death.  When  the  sun  went  down,  the  burial  service 
was  read,  and,  sewed  in  canvas  weighted  with  shot,  his  body  was 
launched  into  the  Atlantic.  His  long  voyaging  on  earth  was 
over.  He  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  officers  as  well  as  his 
messmates. 

We  arrived  in  Boston  on  the  17th  of  July,  after  a  passage  of 
thirty-five  days  from  Gibraltar.  When  south  of  the  Banks  of 
Newfoundland,  we  had  heavy  weather.  I  was  much  interested 
in  observiug  how  well  the  vessel  behaved  under  close-reefed 
main-topsail  and  reefed  foresail,  and  what  a  great  difference 
there  was  in  her  pitching  when  the  bow  guns  were  brought  to 
the  mainmast  and  lashed. 

In  the  life  of  a  seafaring  man  there  are  few  joys  comparable 
with  being  homeward  bound;  on  arriving,  a  leave  of  three 
months  awaits  him,  and  the  time  with  his  loved  ones  seems  all 
too  short. 

AT  THE   NAVAL   SCHOOL   IN   PHILADELPHIA. 

At  the  end  of  my  leave,  I  was  sent  to  our  Naval  School,  then 
in  the  Naval  Asylum,  near  Philadelphia,  on  the  Gray's  Ferry 
Road.  The  building  is  yet  standing,  now  surrounded  by  dwell- 
ings that  hem  it  in  on  all  sides.  The  grounds  comprise  some 
twenty  acres,  half  of  which,  in  front  of  the  building,  is  covered 
by  large  trees,  that  I  aided  Commodore  James  S.  Biddle  to 
plant  during  that  fall  or  winter.  We  occupied  the  ground-floor 
of  the  northern  wing,  the  end  room  at  the  entrance  being  for 
recitations.  There  were  two  stories  above,  with  a  broad  corri- 
dor in  front  and  in  rear ;  a  few  of  the  midshipmen  who  had 
no  quarters  below  were  assigned  to  the  second  floor. 

There  was  a  long  passage-way  extending  in  the  centre  through 
the  building,  having  on  both  sides,  all  the  way  up,  little  rooms, 
about  eight  feet  square,  with  partitions  eight  feet  high,  separating 


DAVID  MCLURE.  95 

them  from  the  hall,  or  passage-way,  and  from  each  other.  Each 
apartment  had  a  window  looking  outward,  with  bars  like  a 
prison.  The  furniture  consisted  of  a  small  iron  bedstead  and 
wash-stand,  a  small  wooden  wardrobe,  and  whatever  we  chose 
to  supply  in  mirror,  carpets,  and  bedding,  The  number  of 
midshipmen  under  instruction  was  thirty-four,  and  the  length 
of  time  about  eight  months.  The  naval  pensioners,  for  whom 
the  building  was  constructed,  numbered  at  that  time  about  one 
hundred ;  and  they  were  generally  assigned  to  the  other  wing 
of  the  building. 

Our  recitation-room  was  furnished  wTith  two  blackboards,  and 
a  large  rough  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  upon  which  we 
could  put  our  books  if  desired,  and  all  of  us  had  chairs.  There 
was  an  old  sextant,  to  explain  its  adjustments,  and  no  apparatus 
whatever.  The  passage-ways  were  heated  by  two  stoves,  placed 
in  the  middle  and  supplied  with  anthracite  coal,  and  our  recita- 
tion-room was  heated  in  like  manner.  Our  food  was  paid  for 
out  of  our  pay,  by  deducting  twenty  dollars  per  month  from 
every  one,  and  the  wife  of  the  gunner  who  was  stationed  as  an 
assistant,  to  take  care  of  the  pensioners,  was  our  purveyor. 
We  did  not  live  luxuriously. 

We  were  under  the  instruction  of  David  McLure,  one  of  the 
half-dozen  "  professors  of  mathematics"  then  in  the  navy.  He 
deserved  the  kind  feelings  of  all  his  pupils  ;  he  was  quite  small, 
evidently  a  Scot,  was  very  appreciative  of  moral  philosophy 
as  a  study,  and  thought  that  practical  navigation  might  be 
deferred  to  the  end  of  our  instruction,  as,  in  his  opinion,  two 
months  should  suffice  for  that.  We  studied  Playfair's  Geom- 
etry and  Bourdon's  Algebra,  and  listened  to  his  daily  lectures 
on  physics  and  moral  philosophy. 

On  one  occasion  he  gave  a  lecture  on  "  infinity,"  which  was 
responded  to  by  one  of  the  class,  who  said  he  had  but  one  idea 
in  regard  to  "  infinity," — namely,  that  it  had  a  common  ratio 
to  all  conceivable  quantities,  or  distances,  or  spaces.  The  little 
man  fairly  held  his  breath,  and  finally  said,  "  Wonderful !  won- 
derful !  The  first  philosophers  of  the  age  have  just  arrived 
at  that  conclusion."  The  irreverent  youth  replied  that  it  only 
implied  his  superiority  to  philosophers  in  general.     The  pro- 


96  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW 

fessor  cast  a  glance  of  pity  at  the  sententious  individual,  and 
felt  for  ever  after  that  he  had  uttered  what  he  did  not  compre- 
hend. He  lived  in  the  city,  and  came  out  daily,  at  about  nine 
in  the  morning,  remaining  until  about  two  o'clock.  In  Feb- 
ruary he  was  seized  with  pneumonia,  and  we  saw  no  more  of 
him  until  we  went  to  his  funeral. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Professor  McLure,  an  incident  oc- 
curred that  dispersed  the  school  for  some  six  weeks.  The 
small-pox  was  prevalent  in  the  city  during  the  whole  of  that 
winter,  and  the  family  of  the  gunner  on  duty  at  the  Naval 
Asylum  brought  it  out  for  our  benefit.  The  rooms  of  his 
family  were  next  to  the  chapel,  with  a  communicating  door; 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  it  was  used  for  the  sick,  or  the  door  was 
opened  to  give  the  benefit  of  additional  air.  At  all  events,  six 
or  eight  of  us  were  attacked,  although  all  were  vaccinated  on 
the  appearance  of  the  disease  in  the  building ;  the  vaccine  did 
not  "  take,"  but  the  small-pox  did,  and  I  was  the  first  victim. 
When  a  child,  my  father  inspired  me  with  a  fear  of  the  disease. 
When  quite  young,  in  the  mountain-region  of  Virginia,  he  had 
it  in  a  confluent  form,  before  the  time  of  Jenner,  and  at  a  period 
when  it  was  the  practice  to  "  prepare  the  system"  for  it  and  use 
the  small-pox  virus.  The  first  symptom  with  me  was  a  sudden 
nausea,  when  dining,  followed  soon  after  by  a  strong  fever. 
During  the  night  I  was  restless,  and  in  a  dream  saw  a  mist 
slowly  passing  along  in  the  obscurity  of  the  evening.  Regard- 
ing it  as  a  marvel,  I  asked  it  if  it  was  a  ghost ;  it  replied, 
"  Yes."  I  asked  if  I  knew  it  when  living ;  it  replied,  "  No." 
"  Then,"  I  said,  "  keep  away  from  me,  or  I  will  harm  you." 
Then  the  mist  seemed  to  solidify,  and  rapidly  assumed  the  typi- 
cal representation  of  the  devil,  but  it  was  a  very  little  one,  and 
in  my  mind  there  was  only  one  thing  to  do  if  it  became  aggres- 
sive, as  it  seemed  disposed  to  do.  It  soon  crouched  with  dread- 
ful grimace,  and  evidently  intended  to  make  a  bound  of  twenty 
feet.  "  Now,"  I  thought,  "  I  am  in  for  it,"  and,  bracing  my- 
self firmly  on  my  right  foot,  I  met  my  enemy  on  his  bound, 
with  all  my  force  of  fist,  between  the  eyes.  His  bronze  majesty 
had  it  all  his  own  way ;  my  fist  fell  back,  bruised  and  lacerated, 
and  there  I  was,  in  the  power  of  the  fiend !     It  was  a  fearful 


PROFESSOR   CHAUVENET.  97 

moment,  and  I  yelled  with  all  my  power.  My  companions  had 
not  yet  retired,  and  were  sitting  around  in  the  hall- way.  Startled 
by  my  cry,  they  rushed  in  to  ask  the  cause.  I  was  awake  from 
the  blow  I  had  inflicted  on  the  wall  and  the  injuries  received 
therefrom,  and  at  once  gave  an  account  of  my  supposed  en- 
counter, which  impressed  itself  on  my  memory  ever  after.  The 
following  morning  my  classmate  Jones  came  to  see  me,  and, 
looking  closely  at  my  face  and  hands,  informed  me  that  I  had 
it.  "  Have  what  ?"  I  asked.  "  Only  the  small-pox,"  he  said  ; 
and  so  it  was. 

After  the  reassembling  of  the  classes,  quite  a  young  professor 
took  the  place  of  McLure  as  our  instructor,  and  he  proved  one 
of  distinguished  ability;  it  was  the  late  Professor  Chauvenet, 
who  did  more  in  building  up  the  present  Naval  Academy  than 
any  other  person.  He  resigned  in  1860,  almost  an  old  man 
from  his  labors,  and  died  a  few  years  after,  in  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, at  the  head  of  some  institution.  He  was  a  man  of  genius, 
and  literally  wore  himself  out  in  his  studies,  and  on  his  text- 
books, which  are  of  the  highest  merit. 

He  could  do  nothing  with  our  class  but  patch  us  up  on  prac- 
tical navigation.  However,  every  member  of  the  class  passed 
his  examination.  It  was  said  that  the  Board  arrived  at  this 
result  because  several  of  the  members  insisted  upon  a  particular 
midshipman  passing,  they  being  "  friends  of  the  family."  The 
other  members  then  asserted,  it  was  said,  that  none  should  be 
found  deficient ;  so  we  all  passed.  Several  of  us,  who  lived  at 
a  distance  from  Philadelphia,  after  examination  stayed  at  the 
building,  awaiting  orders,  and  one,  known  as  "  Brick-top,"  went 
into  the  examination-room  and  gathered  the  scraps  of  paper 
from  the  fireplace.  We  were  invited  to  join  in  putting  the  torn 
pieces  together,  and  then  read  off  the  names  as  recorded.  The 
numbers  not  being  entirely  to  our  satisfaction,  it  occurred  to  us 
to  reverse  the  list  and  give  it  to  the  newspapers  for  publication. 
This  was  done,  to  the  great  gratification  of  the  foot  of  the  class. 
"Billy"  was  in  high  feather  at  the  final  reward  of  his  labors. 
His  method  of  studying  geometry  was  to  memorize  a  problem ; 
hence  it  became  a  matter  of  prime  importance  to  place  all  the 
letters  on  the  diagram  just  as  they  were  in  the  book.     He 

7 


98  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

received  our  congratulations  in  relation  to  his  number  with  great 
condescension,  and  when  the  official  list  reversed  our  numbers 
he  was  hardly  willing  to  believe  his  eyes. 

It  was  our  habit  at  the  school,  in  the  afternoon,  to  form 
parties  numbering  a  dozen  or  more  and  take  a  stroll  of  several 
miles.  On  one  occasion  we  went  to  Fairmount,  and  John 
Hogan,  "  from  the  South,"  as  he  always  added,  took  it  into  his 
head  to  have  a  fit  for  the  amusement  of  the  crowd.  He  went 
through  the  performance  admirably,  and  finally,  after  being 
restored,  and  gaining  the  sympathy  of  the  persons  who  saw  the 
unfortunate  young  man,  he  was  supported  by  his  comrades  on 
his  way  home,  until  no  longer  seen  by  his  commiserators.  He 
had  much  more  ability  in  having  fits  and  dancing  "  hoe-downs" 
than  in  his  studies :  in  such  roles  he  was  inimitable.  After  a 
lapse  of  forty-seven  years,  there  are  still  of  our  class  three  on 
the  retired  list  of  the  navy,  and  three  in  civil  life,  who  resigned 
many  years  ago.  The  classmate  who  had  the  fits,  and  the  other 
one,  who  committed  his  geometry  to  memory  as  well  as  the 
letter  rule  of  the  problem,  passed  away  long  ago. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


Coast-Survey  Duty  on  the  Delaware — Lieutenant  Charles  H.  Davis,  com- 
manding the  Nautilus — Lieutenant  George  B.  Blake — The  Gallatin — 
Ordered  to  Keceiving-Ship  Experiment,  at  Philadelphia  Navy- Yard — 
Lieutenant  Albert  E.  Downes,  of  the  Grampus — A  Proposed  Visit  to  the 
"White  Mountains — Interrupted  by  a  Trio  of  Musicians— Ordered  as  Navi- 
gator to  the  Lexington — Life  in  the  Wardroom — A  "  Tartar" — Minorca — 
Port  Mahon — "  Old  Nance" — The  Missouri — The  Columbus — The  Lexing- 
ton arrives  at  New  York — Lieutenants  Green,  Grey,  White,  and  Black — 
Visits  Mississippi — Adjutant-General  Koger  Jones — Lieutenant  Lay — Visits 
Home — Ordered  to  the  Vincennes — Cruise  to  China  and  Japan — A  Case 
of  Small-Pox — Dolphins — Dan  on  the  Lookout — Brazil. 

Ten  days  after  passing  my  examination,  I  was  ordered  on 
coast-survey  duty,  and  joined  the  Nautilus,  a  fore-and-aft 
schooner,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Charles  H.  Davis,  who 
died  some  years  ago  as  rear-admiral.     The  vessel  was  engaged 


LIEUT.  ALBERT  E.  DOWNES,  OF  THE   GRAMPUS.        99 

on  the  survey  of  Delaware  Bay,  and  belonged  to  the  party  of 
Lieutenant  George  B.  Blake,  in  command  of  the  Gallatin,  a 
beautiful  little  foretop-sail  schooner  that  was  a  great  favorite 
with  her  officers  and  continued  for  a  long  period  of  years  on 
that  duty.  In  the  early  part  of  the  season  our  work  was  near 
Cape  May,  and  later  up  the  river  between  Chester  and  New 
Castle.  With  agreeable  messmates,  I  passed  a  delightful  sum- 
mer on  such  duty,  and  when  the  season  was  over  was  given  a 
leave  to  visit  my  relatives. 

During  the  following  winter  I  was  ordered  to  the  receiving- 
ship  Experiment,  at  the  Philadelphia  Navy- Yard.  She  had  no 
frame,  and  was  built  with  planking  placed  diagonally,  on  what 
is  now  known  as  the  "  diagonal  plan"  in  boat-construction.  The 
Experiment  had  much  the  model  of  a  long  muskmelon  with- 
out the  ribbed  sections.  She  was  the  ideal  of  some  old  "  sea- 
dog,"  who  thought  that  the  flexibility  of  the  hull  would  make 
up  in  speed  for  the  deficiency  of  lines, — that  the  muskmelon 
shape,  added  to  the  flexibility,  would  make  a  fast  vessel,  which 
did  not  prove  to  be  the  case.  She  served  in  the  "  Nullification 
war"  at  Charleston,  in  1834,  and  it  was  said  that  in  going  and 
returning  from  a  Northern  port  she  worked  like  a  basket  and 
leaked  to  such  a  degree  that  she  was  never  sent  to  sea  again. 
There  were  no  recruits  on  board  during  the  winter  of  1843  in 
Philadelphia,  and  literally  there  was  nothing  to  do.  The  Ex- 
periment was  moored  to  the  wharf  and  roofed  :  with  no  watch 
to  keep, — for  there  was  nothing  to  watch, — the  most  favorable 
conditions  were  presented  for  a  young  officer  "  to  go  to  seed" 
prematurely.  There  were  several  of  us,  and  we  had  our  rooms, 
when  not  required  to  be  on  board,  at  a  lodging-house  on  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  Continental  Hotel. 

Soon  after  joining  the  Experiment,  it  occurred  to  me  that  an 
officer  could  become  a  seaman  only  by  going  to  sea,  and  I  was 
on  the  point  of  applying  for  the  schooner  Grampus,  which  I  saw 
was  about  being  put  in  commission,  under  Lieutenant  Albert  E. 
Downes,  under  whom  I  had  served  on  board  the  Preble.  I  was 
dissuaded  by  a  classmate,  who  proposed  that  we  should  go  to- 
gether a  few  months  later,  and  the  following  March,  in  a  "  bliz- 
zard" of  great  severity,  the  Grampus  was  lost  off  Charleston. 


100  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

The  following  autumn  I  asked  a  detachment  from  the  Experi- 
ment and  orders  to  the  frigate  Savannah,  bound  for  the  Pacific. 
Having  some  days'  leave,  I  determined  to  visit  the  White 
Mountains.  On  arriving  at  Boston,  I  fell  in  with  a  classmate 
who  played  exquisitely  upon  the  flute,  and,  on  being  told  where 
I  was  going,  he  said  that  would  just  suit  him,  and  the  next  day 
we  were  off  for  Portland.  There  we  fell  in  with  an  old  navy 
man,  who  had  resigned  and  become  an  officer  in  the  revenue 
service.  He  played  the  guitar  superbly,  and  some  years  before 
had  gone  through  Virginia  as  a  compromise  between  a  trouba- 
dour and  a  tramp,  singing  Italian  songs  and  denying  a  knowledge 
of  the  English  language,  further  than  to  make  known  his  wants. 
In  the  hotel  at  Portland  my  worthy  friends  had  a  duet ;  there 
was  a  knock  at  the  door,  and,  on  an  invitation  to  enter,  a  tall 
man,  somewhat  the  worse  for  drink,  came  in,  and  said,  "  Gentle- 
men, excuse  me ;  are  you  the  gentleman  who  played  the  flute  ? 
You  have  faults  in  execution,  but  you  play  more  exquisitely 
than  any  person  I  have  ever  heard.  I  must  embrace  you."  He 
suited  the  action  to  the  word  ;  "  Tom"  said  that,  if  it  was  all  the 
same,  he  would  consider  himself  embraced.  He  informed  us 
that  he  was  the  late  leader  of  the  band  at  the  Military  Academy 
at  West  Point,  and  begged  leave  to  bring  his  horn  and  make  a 
trio,  which  was  agreed  to.  Afterwards  we  had  music  morning, 
noon,  and  night,  and  in  reply  to  my  reminders  that  we  were 
wasting  our  time  instead  of  going  to  the  mountains,  my  friend 
Tom  would  aver  earnestly  that  we  would  go  the  next  day,  and 
when  that  came  it  was  the  same  old  promise  never  fulfilled.  A 
cocktail  in  the  morning,  supplemented  by  others,  made  him 
happy  and  musical,  and,  as  several  days  had  been  wasted,  my 
time  was  so  shortened  that  I  had  to  go  to  New  York  to  join  my 
vessel.     I  never  saw  either  of  my  musical  friends  again. 

I  think  the  observation  of  most  men  supports  the  fact  that 
when  the  day  begins  with  a  cocktail  the  man  will  not  last  long  : 
among  seamen  it  has  passed  into  a  proverb  that  the  sun  must  at 
least  "  be  over  the  foreyard"  before  a  man  can,  with  any  possi- 
ble safety,  take  a  cocktail  j  and  to  this  I  have  never  known  but 
one  living  exception.  Not  long  ago,  in  the  New  York  hotel, 
when  up  early,  I  met  a  friend  whom  I  knew  agreeably  in  Wash- 


ORDERED  AS  NAVIGATOR   TO    THE  LEXINGTON.       101' 

ington  more  than  thirty  years  before.  He  proposed  a  cocktail ; 
I  declined,  as  a  precautionary  measure,  much  to  his  chagrin,  as 
we  were  old  friends.  He  is  the  single  exception  that  I  have 
known,  and  exemplifies  the  fact,  that  however  general  a  result 
obtains,  an  exception  may  be  possible. 

We  were  on  the  point  of  sailing  on  board  of  the  Savannah 
for  the  Pacific,  when  I  found  myself  ordered  as  navigator  of  the 
store-ship  Lexington  bound  for  Port  Mahon ;  and,  although 
seven  years  passed  before  I  became  a  lieutenant,  and  as  I  was 
then  and  thereafter  a  navigator,  when  on  board  vessels-of-war, 
or  on  surveying  duty,  where  I  was  with  officers  of  higher  grade, 
I  consider  my  life  in  the  steerage  ended,  and  what  I  write  here- 
after will  belong  to  a  wider  scope  of  vision,  and  will  relate  to 
more  responsible  duties. 

LIFE    IN     THE   WARDROOM,    OK     THAT     OF     A     COMMISSIONED 

OFFICER. 

In  October,  1843,  I  joined  the  store-ship  Lexington,  at  the 
New  York  Navy- Yard,  in  the  capacity  of  acting  master,  with 
the  duties  of  watch-officer  and  navigator.  I  had  passed  my 
examination  fifteen  months  before,  and,  as  the  position  was  one 
of  responsibility,  none — or  few — were  ordered  to  vessels  with- 
out the  application  of  the  officer  commanding  the  vessel,  which 
was  the  case  in  this  instance,  although  I  had  never  seen  the 
lieutenant  in  charge. 

He  was  called  a  "  Tartar,"  and  I  must  confess  that  he  had 
evidently  grown  up  in  the  school  of  violence ;  but  there  were 
signs  that  he  would  have  been  a  more  useful  and  more  agreeable 
officer  had  he  received  different  training.  There  is,  surely, 
enough  that  is  trying  in  a  natural  way  to  the  men  of  the  sea, 
without  imposing  upon  them  a  load  of  nonsense  and  holding 
over  them  forever  a  menace  and  a  threat.  I  will  leave  it  to 
those  who  have  served  under  me  to  say  whether  this  is  a  con- 
demnation of  others  when,  unwittingly,  I  might  be  subjected  to 
the  same  criticism.  There  is  certainly  much  to  consider  with 
regard  to  the  responsibilities  of  a  commanding  officer ;  he  can- 
not avoid  them,  and,  indeed,  if  he  seeks  to  do  so,  as  our  army 
friends  say,  he  "  should  go  to  the  rear."     In  former  writings  I 


102  '"  '  '  '  '  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

have  acknowledged  the  great  debt  the  navy  owed  to  those  who 
did  away  with  flogging.  It  was  met  at  the  time  with  a  sneer 
and  the  remark,  "  Moral  suasion,"  and  I  have  to  admit  that  I 
joined  in  the  sneer.  The  change,  however,  forced  upon  navy 
officers  a  study  of  the  broad  principles  of  governing  men ; 
showing  them  that,  however  much  absolute  government  was  a 
necessity,  if  it  failed  in  reason  and  humanity  there  was  neither 
effectiveness  nor  discipline.  It  has  often  occurred  to  me  how 
powerless  an  army  officer  is  when  not  "  popular"  with  untrained 
meu,  who  think  that  discipline  is  only  a  disguised  name  for 
tyranny,  when,  in  fact,  discipline  is  simply  an  economy  of  force, 
and  a  protection  for  the  health,  comfort,  and  effectiveness  of 
men,  and  the  more  advantageous  individually,  as  the  grade  is 
lower.  On  board  ship  we  deserve  little  credit  for  discipline, 
and  a  great  deal  of  censure  where  it  does  not  exist.  With 
water  five  fathoms  deep,  or  more,  around  us,  the  landsman  can- 
not escape  the  toils,  and  ere  long  understands  that  the  man  who 
governs  looks  to  his  health  and  comfort.  He  sees,  too,  that  he 
is  protected  in  his  rights  and  instructed  in  his  duties.  When 
his  conduct  is  good,  as  often  as  his  duties  will  permit,  he  is  sent 
on  shore,  and  if  he  misbehaves,  still  he  is  sent  "  on  liberty"  at 
such  times  as  are  convenient.  Nevertheless,  he1  is  punished,  one 
way  or  another,  for  his  derelictions  ;  for  doing  away  with  flog- 
ging does  not  imply  that  punishment  in  the  navy  has  ceased,  nor 
will  it,  so  long  as  misdemeanors  and  crimes  demand  it. 

The  Lexington  had  been  converted  from  an  old  sloop-of-war 
to  a  store-ship  by  being  built  upon,  which  made  her  capable  of 
stowing  a  large  cargo.  I  had  little  idea  of  the  capacity  of  her 
stowage,  and  was  quite  surprised  when  the  captain  told  me  to 
make  a  requisition  for  twenty-five  cords  of  wood  for  "  dunnage," 
which  means  filling  up  vacant  spaces  between  barrels  and  pack- 
ages ;  yet  all  of  it  was  required :  as  a  solid,  it  was  a  cube  of 
three  thousand  two  hundred  feet.  About  the  last  of  September 
we  completed  the  stowage  of  our  cargo  for  Port  Mahon,  a  haven 
of  rest,  known  to  seamen  for  centuries,  and  at  that  time  the 
rendezvous  of  our  squadron  in  the  Mediterranean,  where  we 
kept  half  a  dozen  vessels-of-war.  The  vessel  drew  some  two 
feet  more  of  water  than  when  a  sloop-of-war,  and  was  quite  a 


»  OLD  NANCE.1'  103 

dull  sailer,  but  by  crowding  sail  when  we  had  a  free  wind  we 
got  along  fairly,  and  arrived  at  Port  Mahon  in  forty-four  days. 

From  seaward,  and  indeed  from  within  the  harbor,  the  gen- 
eral aspect  of  the  island  of  Minorca  was  uninviting.  It  has 
only  one  considerable  elevation,  of  several  hundred  feet,  known 
as  Mount  Toro.  In  the  time  of  Nelson,  Port  Mahon  was  a 
great  naval  rendezvous,  and  the  greater  number  of  the  servants 
of  the  officers,  then  and  thereafter,  were  Mahonese ;  even  the 
crews  were  in  part  from  the  Balearic  Islands. 

"  Old  Nance,"  as  she  was  called  by  our  officers,  was  a  sturdy 
old  woman  of  seventy ;  she  had  a  very  pleasant  face,  and,  it 
was  said,  had  served  on  board  of  Nelson's  flag-ship  in  the 
capacity  of  powder-boy ;  that  is,  in  action,  she  supplied  a  gun 
with  powder  passed  up  from  the  magazine.  When  I  knew  her, 
she  was  quite  poor,  and  lived  mostly  in  the  country,  where 
beans,  lettuce,  and  olive  oil  were  cheap ;  a  boiled  head  of  let- 
tuce, with  a  little  oil  and  salt,  and  some  beans,  were  all  she 
required  to  supply  her  wants,  and  when  she  came  to  town  she 
was  very  attentive  in  presenting  beans  to  the  children  of  her 
friends.  She  was  quite  cheerful,  and  spoke  of  her  service  afloat 
with  zest. 

The  inn  of  Juan  Cacho  was  noted  for  its  nice  dishes ;  the  red- 
legged  partridge  that  came  over  from  the  African  coast,  a  dis- 
tance of  one  hundred  miles,  in  the  season,  and  the  "  becofico," 
a  very  diminutive  bird  of  passage  also,  and  the  date-fish,  were 
among  his  delicacies.  The  vino  negro  of  the  island  was  sound 
and  had  body,  and  the  vino  tinto  that  came  from  the  foot  of 
Mount  Toro  was  a  very  delicate  wine.  Although  the  island 
had  a  look  of  sterility,  it  produced  quantities  of  fine  vegetables 
and  fruits,  particularly  the  cauliflower,  and  oranges,  figs,  grapes, 
and  apricots. 

The  roads  over  the  island  were  admirable,  and  donkey-riding 
was  a  favorite  pastime,  at  an  inconsiderable  cost.  In  the  valleys, 
the  fruit-trees  and  vegetable-gardens  were  always  irrigated  in 
the  dry  season.  Among  the  rocks,  over  the  hills,  were  numbers 
of  the  altars  of  the  Druids. 

It  would  be  idle  to  speculate  as  to  the  antiquity  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  island.     The  Mahonese  of  forty  years  ago  were  a 


104  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

very  industrious,  neat  people,  with  few  vices ;  they  were,  with- 
out exception,  sober,  notwithstanding  all  of  them,  large  and 
small,  had  their  vino  negro  daily,  and  bread,  if  they  could  afford 
it  j  if  not,  beans  would  serve.  As  there  were  few  persons  of 
wealth,  many  of  the  ladies  embroidered  shawls  and  mantillas, 
and  the  officers  bought  them,  through  their  agents,  without 
knowing  whence  they  came,  thus  adding  considerably  to  the 
means  of  support  of  many  excellent  families.  As  I  have  made 
previous  mention  of  Mahon,  when  visiting  it  as  a  midshipman 
attached  to  the  Preble,  I  shall  dispense  with  any  further  obser- 
vation in  relation  to  the  island  of  Minorca. 

During  my  service  on  board  of  the  Lexington  we  made  two 
voyages  between  New  York  and  Port  Mahon.  Stopping  at 
Gibraltar  on  a  homeward  voyage,  we  took  on  board  the  copper 
boilers  of  the  Missouri,  burned  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
Gibraltar  in  daylight,  a  day  or  so  after  she  had  crossed  the 
Atlantic.  A  leakage  of  turpentine  over  the  enginery,  and  the 
saturation  of  the  wood-work,  made  her  a  prepared  bonfire. 
Probably  at  that  time,  little  organization  existed  to  extinguish 
fires,  but  now  such  organization  is  an  established  drill  on  board 
of  all  our  vessels-of-war. 

I  went  alone  to  the  top  of  the  Rock,  first,  by  taking  the  left- 
hand  road  leading  to  the  highest  battery  overlooking  the  "  neu- 
tral ground,"  which  is  a  low  neck  connecting  the  Rock  with 
Spanish  territory.  Looking  down  from  the  upper  battery,  the 
face  seemed  perpendicular,  and  in  fact  it  is  nearly  so,  for  several 
hundred  feet.  There,  I  found  farther  progress  interrupted  by 
an  abrupt  termination  of  the  road ;  I  should  have  taken  the 
other  fork,  at  a  bifurcation  several  hundred  yards  below.  Look- 
ing upward,  towards  the  top,  it  did  not  seem  to  me  so  very 
steep  that  I  might  not  fairly  venture,  and  I  set  about  climbing. 
I  had  not  gone  fifty  feet  before  the  roadway  I  had  left  was  no 
longer  in  view.  The  neutral  ground  lay  below  me,  with  a  fore- 
ground of  rocks  of  a  few  feet  only.  I  confess  that  I  would 
gladly  have  attempted  to  get  down,  had  I  not  felt  it  safer  to  go 
on,  which  I  did  until  I  gained  the  top,  and  was  very  much 
relieved  when  I  stood  upon  it.  It  was  perilous,  and  was  entered 
into  somewhat  stupidly,  not  as  a  feat,  but  to  save  the  time  of 


LIE  UTS.  GREEN,  GREY,    WHITE,  AND  BLACK.         105 

going  down  several  hundred  yards  in  order  to  take  the  proper 
road  to  reach  the  summit. 

The  view  from  the  top  of  the  Rock  is  well  worth  making  the 
ascent  in  the  ordinary  way,  but  not  as  I  did  it.  Looking  over 
into  Africa,  a  long  range  of  snow-clad  mountains  was  plainly 
in  sight,  and  along  the  Spanish  shore  extended  the  Sierra  Madre, 
also  covered  with  snow  for  most  of  the  year.  All  around  was 
a  scene  of  beauty ;  and,  what  adds  to  the  scenic  effect,  the  top 
of  the  Rock  is  so  limited  that  it  appears  as  if  standing  on  a 
pedestal :  it  is  more  than  thirteen  hundred  feet  in  height. 

We  left  Gibraltar  outward  bound,  with  a  fresh  easterly  wind, 
known  as  a  u  Levanter."  Hundreds  of  sailing-vessels  were 
passing  out  at  the  same  time,  for  we  had  been  held  in  for  some 
days  by  westerly  winds.  Our  line-of-battle-ship  Columbus 
passed  out  the  same  day,  also  homeward  bound,  but  we  did  not 
see  her.  We  steered  towards  the  southwest,  and  passed  to  the 
eastward  of  the  island  of  Madeira,  not  far  from  it,  and  made 
our  course  nearly  west  along  the  northern  limit  of  the  trade- 
winds,  until  we  lost  our  breeze,  some  two  hundred  miles  south- 
east of  the  Bermudas ;  then,  with  the  squally  weather  and 
calms,  and  the  wind  all  around  the  compass,  we  made  our  way 
towards  Cape  Hatteras,  to  be  able  to  make  our  lay  with  the 
northwest  winds.  Although  the  Lexington  was  a  dull  sailer, 
we  reached  New  York  in  thirty  days  from  Gibraltar,  and  beat 
in,  under  the  lee  of  the  Jersey  coast,  with  a  fresh  northwest 
gale.  The  Columbus  was  blown  off,  twisted  her  rudder-head, 
and  did  not  get  in  for  a  fortnight  after  our  arrival :  we  "  laid 
to"  in  a  heavy  storm  within  less  than  one  hundred  miles  of  her, 
made  use  of  fore-and-aft  sails,  and  rode  it  out  very  comfortably, 
while  she  was  under  the  traditional  main-topsail  and  lay 
wallowing  in  the  trough  of  the  sea. 

Soon  after  reaching  the  navy-yard,  all  the  officers,  except 
myself,  left  the  ship  for  the  day.  A  reporter  paid  a  visit  to 
learn  the  incidents  of  the  voyage,  and  asked  for  a  list  of  our 
officers.  The  first  lieutenant  was  actually  named  Green,  the 
second  Grey,  the  third  White,  and  the  boatswain  Black.  In 
order  to  have  as  many  tints  as  possible,  and  surpass  in  the  color- 
line,  I  gave  my  name  as  Dun  Brown.      This  my  messmates 


106         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

did  not  like,  jealous,  doubtless,  of  my  subduing  their  distinctive 
colors  with  my  false  pretensions :  an  explanation  was  asked  as 
to  the  motive  of  my  conduct,  but,  as  there  was  no  motive  in  it, 
my  explanation  failed  to  be  satisfactory. 

Detached  from  the  Lexington,  I  went  west  to  see  my  relatives, 
and  finally  to  Mississippi,  in  the  vicinity  of  Natchez,  where 
some  members  of  my  family  lived.  I  spent  some  weeks  with 
Mr.  James  Metcalfe,  at  a  plantation  known  as  "  Bourbon," 
three  miles  above  Ellis's  Cliffs,  on  the  river.  The  sloughs  in 
the  interior,  bordering  the  river,  were  the  resort  of  wild  ducks, 
the  mallard  and  teal  being  in  great  numbers.  I  observed  with 
surprise  that  the  river-banks  were  higher  than  the  interior,  where 
there  were  no  bluffs,  and  that  usually  half  a  mile  from  the  river 
were  long  irregular  sloughs,  and  although  the  timber  standing 
on  the  higher  ground  was  large,  the  marks  from  the  floods  on 
their  trunks  were  often  ten  or  fifteen  feet  from  the  ground. 
The  swampy  grounds  covered  with  cypress-trees,  and  all  the 
forest  clothed  in  what  is  known  as  Spanish  moss,  give  a  funereal 
aspect  to  these  unfrequented  lands. 

Some  years  later,  in  reading  Ly ell's  Geology,  I  came  across  a 
very  simple  and  satisfactory  explanation  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
immediate  banks  of  the  river  being  higher  than  the  interior. 
Tens  of  thousands  of  miles  of  land-superficies  had  been  brought 
down  by  the  stream,  and  when  the  force  of  the  current  became 
insufficient  to  carry  along  the  mud  or  gravel  the  heavier  parts 
would  be  left  on  the  immediate  banks  of  the  river  and  the 
lighter  particles  be  carried  into  the  interior,  where  at  length  the 
imperceptible  current  would  no  longer  carry  them  farther. 
Looking  at  the  swollen  waters  of  this  mighty  river,  thick  with 
the  mud  that  they  bore  along,  and  seeing  a  portion  of  the  count- 
less millions  of  tons  thus  transported  and  deposited,  one  gets  an 
idea  of  the  time  element  in  geological  changes  of  what  are  called 
"  recent  periods." 

During  my  stay  my  friend  was  sick  for  some  days  with  an 
intermittent  fever,  quite  common  in  that  region.  One  of  the 
slaves  came  in  and  told  me  that  he  had  a  "  misery  in  his  side." 
I  made  inquiry,  until  I  fixed  in  my  mind  that  he  had  pleurisy, 
but,  not  knowing  the  character  of  that  disease,  I  took  down  the 


LIEUTENANT  LAY.  107 

encyclopaedia  and  found  that  it  was  an  acute  inflammation  of 
the  lining  membrane  of  the  lungs,  and  thereupon  I  proceeded 
to  treat  my  patient  on  general  principles.  I  had  a  good  fire 
made,  his  feet  placed  towards  it,  applied  hot  bricks  wrapped  in 
cloths  to  them,  and  attempted  to  cup  his  side.  The  apparatus 
was  rather  rude,  only  a  dull  lance  and  cupping-glasses  that  had 
to  be  heated  by  burning  turpentine,  which  made  a  very  imper- 
fect vacuum,  so  that  the  poor  fellow  suffered  from  my  rough 
"  doctoring"  as  well  as  from  the  severe  pain  of  the  disease.  I 
was  up  the  entire  night,  and  told  the  patient  that  I  would  cure 
him  if  possible ;  but,  what  seemed  more  reassuring  to  his  ear,  I 
informed  him  that  at  early  daylight  I  would  send  for  the  father 
of  the  gentleman  at  whose  house  I  was,  an  excellent  physician ; 
and  on  his  arrival  I  delivered  over  my  victimized  patient,  gave 
an  account  of  my  treatment,  and  said  that  I  would  have  bled 
him  also,  had  I  not  feared  I  would  kill  him,  as  I  had  never 
looked  closely  at  the  operation.  The  doctor  approved  of  my 
course  of  treatment,  but  expressed  his  gratification  at  my  not 
knowing  how  to  bleed ;  years  before,  he  would  have  bled,  but 
that  was  no  longer  orthodox.  Doubtless,  in  the  mutability  of 
human  ideas,  bleeding  will  come  in  vogue  again,  with  abun- 
dance of  hot  water,  as  in  the  time  when  Gil  Bias  was  inducted 
into  the  art  of  curing. 

I  left  that  locality  in  February,  1845,  and  on  board  of  the 
steamboat  bound  up  the  river  I  found  Adjutant-General  Roger 
Jones,  of  the  army,  whose  son  was  my  classmate  and  intimate 
friend,  and  Lieutenant  Lay,  of  the  army,  his  aide.  We  had  a 
pleasant  passage  to  Cincinnati,  where  I  left  them,  after  a  bare 
escape  from  one  of  those  so-called  "accidents"  so  frequent  on 
Western  waters.  Lay  and  myself  were  sitting  up  rather  late  one 
night ;  a  fresh  northwest  wind  was  blowing,  and  a  perturbed  in- 
dividual clothed  in  red  flannel  night-clothes  came  out  of  his 
state-room  and  announced  the  fact  that  he  "  smelled  smoke ;" 
after  which,  either  trusting  to  our  vigilance  or  in  order  to  dress 
himself,  returned  to  his  room.  Lay  and  myself  went  out  on 
the  guard,  and  saw  that  the  pantry,  just  forward  of  his  state- 
room, was  on  fire  :  we  burst  in  the  door,  and  with  a  few  buckets 
of  water  soon  put  out  the  flames.     As  the  wood-work  on  those 


108  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

boats  burns  like  tinder,  a  very  few  minutes  more  would  have 
placed  it  beyond  our  power  to  do  more  than  endeavor  to  reach 
the  shore,  with  the  usual  loss  of  life  attendant  on  such  occasions. 
No  sufficient  safeguards  are  yet  provided  for  passengers  on 
Western  steamboats,  although  they  would  be  neither  expensive 
nor  troublesome  to  carry  out.  Since  the  time  referred  to,  thou- 
sands of  passengers  have  perished  on  those  waters  just  for  lack  of 
watchfulness  and  proper  means  of  flotation  on  rafts,  that  should 
be  hoisted  just  clear  of  the  water  abaft  the  wheels.  They  could 
be  carried  without  the  least  difficulty,  and  with  greatly-increased 
safety  to  passengers. 

After  a  brief  tarry  with  my  relatives  in  Ohio,  I  received 
orders  to  the  Vincennes,  a  sloop-of-war,  then  fitting  out  at  Nor- 
folk, and  joined  her  in  May.  The  vessel  then  went  to  New 
York,  in  order  to  accompany  the  ship-of-the-line  Columbus  in 
a  cruise  to  China  and  Japan. 

CRUISE   TO   CHINA   AND   JAPAN. 

The  Vincennes  was  a  sloop-of-war,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  length,  and  seven  hundred  and  fifty  tons'  displacement. 
Most  persons  conversant  with  nautical  matters  know  that  these 
so-called  "  sloops"  are  full-rigged  ships.  Her  battery  was  twenty 
twenty-four-pounder  medium  guns,  and  the  only  projectiles  in 
use  were  round  shot.  Doubtless  any  ordinary  tug,  armed  with 
a  three-pounder  Hotchkiss  gun,  with  the  projectiles  now  in  use, 
would  have  been  able  to  capture  or  destroy  the  Vincennes,  for 
the  reason  that  at  double  the  range  of  the  twenty-four-pounder 
the  three-pounder  would  prove  not  only  effective  when  hitting, 
but  surprisingly  accurate,  being  directed  from  the  shoulder  and 
fired  with  great  rapidity. 

On  a  previous  cruise  the  Vincennes  had  been  under  the  com- 
mand of  an  officer  who  stood  as  a  shining  light  professionally, 
and  yet,  in  order  to  give  the  vessel  a  certain  trim  which  was 
supposed  to  insure  the  best  speed,  he  had  placed  over  the  dead 
wood  at  the  stern  five  hundred  solid  shot,  weighing  twelve 
thousand  six  hundred  pounds.  In  a  short  vessel,  this  weight 
so  near  the  end,  and  stowed  twelve  feet  above  the  line  of  keel, 
made  the  vessel  "  send,"  a  term  used  by  seamen  when  the  vessel 


A   CASE  OF  SMALL-POX.  109 

has  the  motion  of  settling  rapidly  from  a  weight  too  near  the 
bow  or  stern.  This,  with  the  weight  of  anchors  of  about  seven 
thousand  pounds  on  her  bows,  gave  her  an  uneasy  motion  in  a 
sea-way.  At  as  early  a  time  as  practicable,  after  the  facts  were 
known,  better  stowage  was  made  of  the  shot,  and  the  weights 
in  the  hold  were  moved,  so  as  to  preserve  the  trim.  There  is 
perhaps  no  profession  requiring  a  broader  appreciation  of  physi- 
cal laws  than  that  of  the  naval  officer.  As  a  fact,  a  lack  of  this 
information  led  to  the  sudden  sinking  of  a  monitor  and  the  loss 
of  all  who  were  below  at  that  time, — more  than  fifty  persons. 

On  the  5th  of  June,  in  company  with  the  ship-of-the-line 
Columbus,  we  left  New  York  for  China  and  Japan.  An  object 
of  the  cruise  was  to  endeavor  to  induce  the  latter  government  to 
enter  into  commercial  relations  with  the  United  States.  Soon 
after  going  to  sea,  it  became  apparent  that  the  Columbus  was 
the  better  average  sailer ;  but  when  winds  are  light,  even  at  short 
distances  apart,  the  strength  of  the  breeze  varies ;  so,  in  order  to 
maintain  our  station,  we  mutually  delayed  each  other. 

We  had  been  only  a  fortnight  at  sea,  or  perhaps  less,  when 
we  found  that  one  of  the  crew  had  the  small-pox,  and,  what 
seemed  odd,  the  surgeon  was  actually  the  last  one  who  knew 
the  fact,  although  he  had  been  prescribing  for  the  patient  for 
days.  He  was  quite  old,  had  not  been  to  sea  for  many  years, 
and  probably  at  best  was  indifferent  professionally.  He  was  a 
kind,  quiet  old  gentleman,  with  a  disturbed  expression  of  coun- 
tenance, due,  possibly,  to  a  slight  deafness.  He  was  small  and 
feeble  in  appearance,  and  never  spoke  unless  to  ask  some  ques- 
tion, or  when  some  one  of  his  messmates,  as  an  act  of  humanity, 
endeavored  to  engage  him  in  conversation.  He  had  few  patients 
at  that  time,  and  seemed  always  desirous  of  giving  them  his 
personal  attention ;  on  that  account  the  young  medical  officer 
had  not  been  in  attendance,  not  being  requested  to  accompany 
his  senior.  The  surgeon  had  faith  in  porter  as  a  medicine,  and 
enjoined  on  his  patient  to  drink  freely  of  it,  giving  orders  to 
the  "  loblolly"  boy  to  keep  him  supplied.  There  are  no  "  lob- 
lolly" boys  now  :  they  have  grown  up  into  "  hospital  stewards." 
After  the  patient  had  broken  out  in  pustules,  some  of  the  men 
informed  the  assistant  surgeon  of  the  ailment,  and  he  communi- 


HO  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

cated  the  fact  to  his  senior.  The  sick  man  was  taken  off  the 
berth-deck  and  placed  in  a  sheltered  place  under  the  top-gallant 
forecastle.  Luckily,  none  of  the  crew  were  affected,  although  it 
was  rather  a  severe  case.  There  is  a  peculiar  odor  in  this  dis- 
ease, and  it  seems  to  me  I  should  recognize  it  even  after  this 
lapse  of  time,  since  which  I  have  not  had  any  further  contact 
with  it.  The  surgeon  seemed  perturbed  after  being  informed 
of  the  character  of  the  disease,  but  soon  regained  his  usual 
equanimity.  He  always  reminded  me  of  the  grandfather  of 
"  Little  Nell"  as  given  in  "  The  Old  Curiosity  Shop"  of  Charles 
Dickens. 

We  held  our  way  to  the  eastward  until  we  reached  the  usual 
point  of  turning  into  the  trade-winds,  and  near  their  outer  limit 
encountered  the  usual  narrow  belt  of  southeast  winds.  We  went 
about,  and  lost  several  days  in  trying  to  get  farther  to  the  east- 
ward, before  we  turned  again,  to  find  the  same  southeast  wind, 
which  we  soon  passed  through.  Every  one  knows  that  sailing 
in  the  trade-winds  is  the  poetry  of  seafaring  life,  where  the  men 
sit  down  for  hours,  sometimes  for  days,  and  let  the  wind  blow 
them  along.  We  experienced  what  is  usual  in  passing  through 
that  region,  and  what  is  often  mentioned  by  navigators  :  more 
than  five  hundred  miles  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  the  rigging 
dampened  by  the  night  air  became  coated  with  a  reddish  sand 
or  earth,  so  minute  in  particles  as  to  seem  almost  impalpable.  I 
collected  a  small  box  of  it  to  have  examined  under  a  microscope, 
but,  to  my  regret,  it  was  lost. 

After  reaching  the  southern  limit  of  the  northeast  trades,  and 
getting  in  the  calm  belt  of  one  or  two  hundred  miles  in  width, 
in  lat.  12°  N.  and  long.  24°  W.,  we  were  signalled  to  make  the 
best  of  our  way  to  Rio  Janeiro. 

Early  in  the  morning  watch,  when  sailing  fitfully  five  or  six 
miles  an  hour,  a  school  of  dolphins  came  under  the  stern.  I 
had  the  gratification  of  hooking  and  hauling  on  board  half  a 
dozen,  till,  the  breeze  leaving  us,  no  more  would  bite  at  the  piece 
of  red  flannel  that  had  lured  the  others.  The  fish  wrere  fine, 
healthy-looking  specimens,  some  three  feet  in  length,  and  all  the 
messes  had  fresh  fish  without  going  to  market.  The  varying 
hues  of  the  dying  dolphin  have  been  sung  by  the  poet  and  told 


DAN  ON  THE  LOOKOUT.  HI 

by  the  voyager  in  all  time ;  doubtless  a  slow  change  in  color 
occurs  from  life  to  death,  but  it  seems  probable  that  the  evanes- 
cent hues  supposed  to  be  changes  are  due  to  the  rapid  and  varied 
movements  of  the  fish,  and  only  apparent,  as  are  those  of  silken 
and  other  fabrics,  varying  in  shade,  when  the  light  falls  upon 
them  and  is  reflected.  The  dolphin  is  one  of  the  few  fishes 
found  on  the  broad  ocean  as  far  away  from  coasts  or  islands  as 
ocean  distances  permit. 

The  belt  of  "  cairns"  lying  between  the  "  trades"  is  subject  to 
heavy  and  almost  constant  rains,  with  a  hot  stifling  atmosphere, 
where  everything  mildews.  The  great  Atlantic  equatorial  cur- 
rent lies  in  this  calm  belt,  and  the  navigator  with  sails  has  the 
fear  that  he  will  be  swept  so  far  to  the  westward  as  not  to  be 
able  to  weather  Cape  St.  Roque,  in  which  case  he  has  to  pass 
out  through  the  trade-winds  again  and  make  sufficient  easting  in 
the  westerly  winds  to  try  it  over  again.  The  Brooklyn,  some 
fifteen  years  ago,  was  so  long  in  pottering  about  in  this  manner 
that  she  was  given  up  for  lost,  when  she  was  happily  heard  from 
on  the  coast  of  Brazil. 

After  entering  the  southeast  trades  we  went  along  at  a  round 
rate  over  the  last  two  thousand  miles  of  the  voyage  yet  remain- 
ing to  reach  our  port.  One  bright  moonlight  night,  with  the 
great  Southern  Cross  high  above  the  horizon,  when  I  was  officer 
of  the  deck,  Dan,  a  colored  man,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life 
away  from  the  cornfields  of  old  Virginia,  was  placed  as  a  look- 
out on  the  weather  quarter.  We  had  been  fifty  days  at  sea, 
and  he  evidently  had  an  apprehension  that  he  might  never- 
more see  the  land.  He  ventured  to  ask  me  what  I  thought  of 
the  situation,  and,  being  the  navigator,  I  could  certainly  speak 
with  authority.  I  told  him  if  he  would  get  up  at  daylight  he 
would  see  over  our  starboard  bow,  but  away  off,  thirty  miles  or 
more,  a  high  promontory,  called  Cape  Frio.  He  asked  if  I  had 
ever  been  in  these  waters  before,  and  when  I  answered  that  I 
had  not,  he  had  misgivings,  until  the  morning  came,  and  there 
the  cape  stood  out  in  all  its  grand  proportions,  dispelling  all 
further  doubts.  Dan  told  me  afterwards  that  navy  men  knew 
a  great  deal,  but  he  thought  they  required  "  a  little  good  re- 
ligion."    In  a  few  days  he  went  on  shore  at  Rio,  got  drunk, 


112  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

and  otherwise  misbehaved;  afterwards  I  took  occasion  to  ask 
him  if  he  had  left  his  religion  in  Virginia,  or  had  lost  it  at  sea. 

The  coast  of  Brazil,  as  seen  from  near  the  entrance  to  Rio 
Janeiro,  is  quite  high,  and  broken  into  fantastic  prominences. 
Among  these,  thirty  miles  to  the  southward,  is  a  landmark 
known  as  Lord  Hood's  nose :  it  forms  part  of  a  semblance  to  a 
reclining  human  form,  fairly  outlined,  more  particularly  the 
face,  and  a  nose  of  peculiar  shape  and  giant  proportions,  quite 
rounded  in  its  contour.  I  never  see  such  a  profile  of  a  nose  on 
a  .human  being  without  being  reminded  of  the  nose  of  his 
"Lordship,"  which  doubtless  will  remain  coupled  with  the 
name  when  generations  of  Lord  Hoods  have  passed  away.  It 
was  some  appreciative  British  navy  friend  surveying  that  coast 
who  gave  him  and  his  name  a  more  enduring  monument  than 
belongs  to  painter's  skill,  sculptor's  art,  or  monument  of  bronze. 

Approaching  the  harbor,  when  some  miles  beyond  Raza 
Island,  near  the  entrance,  there  is  in  view,  close  under  the  land 
to  the  right,  a  coast  fringed  with  palms,  and  on  the  left,  in  the 
foreground,  a  bare  rock,  known  as  the  Sugar-Loaf,  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  seventy  feet  high ;  beetling  over  it,  several 
miles  away,  is  the  peak  of  Corcovado,  two  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  feet  in  height. 

On  the  right  is  Fort  Santa  Cruz,  and,  above  it,  high  green 
hills  in  the  background.  Away  in  the  distance,  some  fifty  miles, 
looking  through  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  are  seen  the  Organ 
Mountains,  the  peaks  rising  with  sufficient  resemblance  to  sug- 
gest the  name.  On  entering  between  the  high  headlands,  beau- 
tiful indentations  are  seen  on  either  side.  The  city,  partly  on 
a  mountain-side,  is  in  view,  its  white  houses  relieved  against 
a  superb  and  varied  green  background.  The  lovely  sheet  of 
water  stretches  twenty  miles  inland  towards  the  mountain-range 
upon  which  Petropolis  is  situated, — the  residence  of  the  Emperor 
and  of  the  foreign  ministers,  and,  it  may  be  said,  in  climate  one 
of  the  most  delightful  spots  on  the  globe.  Ten  years  later  I 
passed  some  days  there  with  the  Russian  minister. 

Whatever  the  differences  of  opinion  to  which  seafaring  men 
are  prone,  they  fairly  agree  that  no  other  spot  of  intertropical 
grandeur  and  beauty  that  has  met  their  vision  is  comparable  to 


SAIL    WITH  THE   COLUMBUS.  113 

the  Bay  of  Rio  Janeiro.  It  is  worth  a  voyage  to  see,  and 
when  Lord  Hood's  nose  is  once  looked  on  its  memory  will  not 
pass  away.  The  city  in  detail  is  not  at  all  inviting,  and  vile 
smells  fill  the  air,  especially  after  night.  The  streets  are  so 
narrow  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  two  carriages  to  pass, 
and,  in  consequence,  arrows  are  painted  on  the  street  corners, 
indicating  the  direction  towards  which  carriages  may  proceed. 


CHAPTER    X. 


The  Brazilians— Sail  with  the  Columbus — Accident  to  a  Brazilian  Midship- 
man— Tristan  d'Acunha  and  Nightingale  Islands — Sea-Birds — Island  of 
St.  Paul — Straits  of  Sunda — Batavia  Boads — Anjier  Point — Turtles, 
Monkeys,  Baboons,  and  Crocodiles — Malays  operating  a  Pile-Driver — The 
Banyan-Tree— A  Malay  Village— Tigers— A  Wild-Boar  Hunt— Water 
filled  with  Animalcules — The  "  Biche  de  Mer" — Sea-Serpents — The  East 
India  Dysentery — Straits  of  Macassar — Sea  of  Celebes — Monkeys  and 
Baboons  as  Commissaries — Hong-Kong — Chinese  Vessels  under  Arms — 
Duck-Boats — Going  to  Canton  in  a  Sanpan — Buying  Wives — Chinese 
Modes  of  Burial. 

The  Brazilians  are  not  a  pleasing  people.  The  children  are 
dressed  in  an  absurd  style,  making  them  caricatures  of  their 
parents ;  boys  of  ten  years  have  swallow-tail  cloth  coats  and 
silk  hats  in  that  wretchedly  hot  city,  and  look  like  dwarfs.  At 
the  time  of  our  visit,  the  city  had  never  been  visited  by  yellow 
fever,  or,  if  so,  it  was  not  regarded  as  its  habitat,  or  to  be  feared. 
Six  years  later,  it  established  itself  in  a  malignant  form,  and 
has  rarely  ceased  its  work  for  more  than  a  few  months.  Igno- 
rant physicians  frequently  send  their  consumptive  patients  to 
Rio,  when,  in  fact,  the  disease  is  very  constant  and  fatal  in  that 
region,  and  has  more  native  victims  than  yellow  fever. 

After  spending  nearly  three  weeks  in  port,  we  sailed  on  the 
17th  of  August  with  the  Columbus.  On  the  morning  we  left 
two  Brazilian  midshipmen  were  received  on  board,  and,  clumsily 
getting  in  on  the  bow,  the  tug  bringing  them  alongside  struck 
the  lower  part  of  one  of  our  anchors,  caused  it  to  slide,  and 

8 


114  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

pinioned  one  of  them  between  the  bill  of  the  anchor  and  some 
solid  body.  His  first  lesson  on  board  of  the  Vincennes  cost 
him  dreary  weeks  stretched  on  his  back. 

The  holding-ground  in  Rio  Janeiro  harbor  is  a  superior  mud, 
very  good  so  long  as  the  anchors  are  on  the  bottom,  but  not  so 
satisfactory  when  the  cable  is  hove  in  thickly  covered  with  it. 
At  that  time  no  force-pumps  were  in  use  to  play  upon  the  cable 
as  soon  as  it  was  brought  into  the  hawse-hole,  to  cleanse  it 
before  being  paid  below :  thus  quite  a  weight  of  the  chain  had 
to  be  ranged  near  the  bow  until  the  mud  had  been  washed  off. 
This  change  of  trim  lessened  our  speed  greatly;  at  nightfall, 
when  we  had  a  good  stiff  breeze  and  had  got  our  cable 
below,  the  Columbus  was  so  far  ahead  as  to  be  beyond  signal- 
distance,  and  we  were  permitted  to  make  the  best  of  our  way 
to  Anjier  Point,  on  the  west  end  of  the  island  of  Java,  a  dis- 
tance in  round  numbers  of  eight  thousand  miles  on  the  best 
route  to  secure  favorable  winds.  This  is  done  usually,  in  making 
long  voyages  bound  eastwardly,  by  going  into  a  latitude  beyond 
forty  degrees,  or  even  higher.  It  was  towards  the  close  of  the 
last  winter  month  in  that  hemisphere,  and  we  were  soon  where 
the  winds  were  strong,  and  we  had  a  good  deal  of  cold  rain  in 
squalls. 

A  day  or  so  after  leaving  Rio,  just  within  the  tropics,  we 
entered  the  region  where  the  albatross  and  other  birds  of  the 
wide,  open  sea  cruise,  hundreds  of  miles  from  any  land.  I  have 
known  particular  birds  to  follow  the  vessel,  sailing  two  hundred 
miles  or  more  daily,  for  more  than  one  thousand  miles,  doubt- 
less to  pick  up  what  was  thrown  overboard.  They  found  in  the 
sea  their  principal  support,  and,  regarding  what  fell  from  ships 
as  a  kind  of  bonne  bouche,  became  our  followers. 

We  passed  within  sight  of  Tristan  d'Acunha  and  Nightingale 
Islands;  they  are  situated  several  degrees  south  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  and  two-thirds  of  the  distance  from  Rio  to  the 
Cape.  They  are  without  harbors,  of  volcanic  origin,  several 
thousand  feet  in  height,  and  were  then  the  abode  of  a  few  sailors, 
who,  tired  of  the  fatigues  of  a  sea-life,  had  established  them- 
selves to  raise  potatoes  and  supplies  for  whalers  and  other  ves- 
sels, that,  at  intervals  of  months,  would  "  heave  to"  under  the 


ISLAND   OF  ST.  PAUL.  115 

lee  of  the  islands,  to  exchange  the  delicacies  of  life,  such  as 
whiskey  and  tobacco,  for  what  was  brought  off, — pigs,  chickens, 
and  vegetables. 

After  getting  beyond  these  islands,  the  sweep  of  the  seas  from 
the  far  southwest  was  truly  magnificent.  Persons  who  have 
voyaged  in  the  North  Atlantic  have  encountered  as  dangerous 
seas  as  elsewhere,  but  they  have  no  conception  of  the  grandeur 
of  the  immense  and  regular  seas  that  roll  along  from  the  south- 
west, off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Cape  Horn  and  in  the 
adjacent  waters.  For  miles,  a  breaking  crest  appears,  chasing 
and  overtaking  the  vessel,  the  undulation  travelling  twenty 
miles  or  more  per  hour.  Above,  in  the  sky,  are  wild-looking 
clouds,  and  hovering  in  the  air  are  many  sea-birds,  from  the 
tiny  petrel  to  the  large  chocolate  gannet,  man-of-war-bird,  and, 
grander  than  all,  the  albatross,  with  outspread  wings  measuring 
fifteen  feet,  sailing  around  the  vessel  with  rapid  sweep,  appar- 
ently without  muscular  exertion,  and  so  near  that  the  whites  of 
their  eyes  may  be  seen.  At  times  I  got  permission  to  shoot  at 
the  Cape  pigeons,  in  appearance  on  the  wing  greatly  resembling 
the  domestic  pigeon.  The  long  regular  roll  of  the  sea  made  it 
not  difficult  to  strike  them  with  a  ball  from  a  rifle  that  I  had, 
carrying  conical  balls,  which  were  then  coming  into  ordinary 
use.  Previous  to  that  time,  spherical  balls  were  used  entirely, 
but  of  course  had  not  the  range  nor  the  penetration  of  the 
oblong. 

From  time  to  time  we  had  a  sudden  shift  of  wind  from  the 
northwest  to  the  southwest,  analogous  to  the  reverse  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  equator,  and,  as  the  weather  was  cold  and 
raw,  and  hygiene  little  thought  of,  scurvy  was  developed  before 
we  reached  St.  Paul's  and  Amsterdam  Islands. 

The  asperity  of  the  Southern  as  compared  with  the  Northern 
hemisphere  in  high  latitudes  is  well  known,  and  particularly 
marked  on  Kerguelen's  Island,  which,  though  lying  within  the 
fiftieth  degree,  has  a  climate  so  severe  that  sleet  and  snow  may 
be  expected  at  any  time ;  and  vegetable  growth  is  confined  to 
this  restriction.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Falkland  Islands, 
east  of  Cape  Horn. 

After  completing  our  easting  in  a  latitude  of  nearly  forty- 


116  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

five  degrees,  we  turned  at  the  usual  point  to  pass  near  the  island 
of  St.  Paul,  and,  looking  at  the  chart,  I  saw  that  just  six  months 
after  a  visit  to  my  friend  Metcalfe  in  Mississippi  I  was  within 
less  than  one  hundred  miles  of  his  antipode.  We  did  not  run 
near  enough  to  this  high  volcanic  island  to  sight  it,  and  soon, 
passing  from  the  region  of  "the  brave  west  winds,"  entered 
the  trades,  having  a  delightful  run,  until  we  sighted  the  island 
of  Krakatoa,  lying  just  without  the  entrance  of  the  Straits 
of  Sunda.  It  was  beautifully  green,  several  thousand  feet  in 
height,  and,  in  the  early  dawn,  without  a  cloud  to  obscure  its  pro- 
portions. Passing  along  we  entered  the  straits  near  sunset,  and 
lost  sight  of  landmarks.  A  tide  or  current  swept  us  in  rapidly, 
and  we  were  several  miles  beyond  Anjier  Point  before  we  knew  it. 

Owing  to  the  many  East-Indiamen  that  frequented  those  seas 
for  half  a  century,  provided  with  the  best  chronometers  then 
made,  the  longitude  of  Java  Head,  a  bold  promontory  at  the 
entrance  of  Sunda  Straits,  was  very  well  determined.  After  a 
voyage  of  eight  thousand  miles  from  Rio,  during  which  no  land 
had  been  sighted  in  fifty-eight  days,  the  mean  of  our  three  chro- 
nometers gave  the  longitude  within  two  miles,  or  eight  seconds 
in  time. 

Several  years  ago,  as  the  reader  will  recall,  the  island  of 
Krakatoa  was  split  asunder,  and  Anjier  Point,  and  indeed  the 
whole  coast  of  Java,  was  swept  by  a  tidal  wave  resulting  from 
the  most  terrific  earthquake  recorded  for  centuries.  Vessels 
miles  away  beyond  the  straits  had  their  decks  covered  inches 
deep  with  volcanic  ashes,  and  the  whole  surface  of  the  sea  for 
many  miles  was  covered  with  scoria,  or  what  is  known  as 
"  pumice-stone."  The  memory  of  those  seas  has  been  indelibly 
impressed  on  my  memory,  as  the  following  pages  will  show. 

As  stated  above,  we  had  been  swept  several  miles  beyond 
Anjier  Point,  where  we  were  to  join  the  Columbus,  and  as  soon 
as  we  became  aware  of  the  fact,  by  sighting  some  small  islands, 
we  anchored,  and  the  following  day  returned  to  the  rendezvous. 
Two  days  later  the  Columbus  made  her  appearance  and  anchored 
also.  We  remained  there  about  one  week,  and  then  made  our 
way  to  Batavia  Roads  in  company. 

Our  experience  at  Anjier  Point  and  in  the  voyage  thereafter 


MALAYS  OPERATING  A   PILE-DRIVER.  H7 

was  to  me  more  painful  than  that  of  any  other  period  of  my 
whole  life,  and,  until  reaching  the  coast  of  China,  of  the  saddest : 
how  ephemeral  existence  is  in  general,  and  especially  in  that  por- 
tion of  the  globe,  I  had  there  my  first  perception.  Years  after, 
in  the  u  Wandering  Jew,"  I  read  a  description  of  a  scene  on  the 
island  of  Java  that  was  extraordinary  in  detail  and  inspired 
me  with  admiration  of  the  power  of  description  possessed  by 
a  writer  who  had  never  seen  that  region. 

On  anchoring  at  Anjier,  a  number  of  canoes  came  alongside, 
loaded  with  cocoa-nuts  and  tropical  fruits,  among  them  the 
"  mangosteen,"  esteemed  by  travellers  as  the  most  delicious 
known,  and  the  "  durio."  Green  turtle,  laid  upon  their  backs, 
filled  the  bottoms  of  the  canoes,  and  small  monkeys  and  baboons, 
tied  by  strings,  sat  upon  the  bows  and  sterns  of  most.  The 
monkey-supply  there  is  limited  only  by  the  demand.  When  we 
landed  at  a  rude  wharf  on  piles,  the  vacant  space  underneath  the 
flooring  was  exposed  to  view,  and,  curiously  enough,  several 
young  crocodiles,  from  two  to  three  feet  in  length,  were  chasing 
each  other  around  like  kittens.  Full-grown  saurians,  as  usually 
seen,  move  very  slowly,  and  seem  so  encased  in  armor  as  to  give 
the  impression  of  their  being  incapable  of  turning  with  rapidity, 
or  of  making  any  swift  movement, — which  is  quite  a  mistake. 
These  young  animals  would  dart  like  a  flash,  double  on,  and  bat 
one  another  with  their  long  flexible  tails,  and  were  as  graceful 
in  their  activity  and  playfulness  as  kittens. 

On  the  borders  of  a  small  canal,  some  yards  above,  a  number 
of  Malays  were  operating  a  pile-driver  of  the  most  primitive 
kind.  A  frame  was  put  up,  of  small  dimensions,  not  unlike 
that  ordinarily  in  use,  to  hold  a  weight  drawn  up  either  by  a 
tread-mill,  as  I  first  saw  at  Norfolk,  when  I  entered  the  navy, 
or,  as  seen  now,  wound  up  by  steam  around  a  cylinder,  and,  on 
reaching  a  certain  height,  detached  automatically.  There  were 
twenty  little  fellows,  clothed  only  in  breech-clouts  and  hats,  each 
having  a  rope's  end,  all  the  rope's  ends  being  spliced  to  a  larger 
rope,  by  which  the  weight  was  dragged  up ;  then,  at  the  cry  of 
their  leader,  all  of  them  would  let  go,  and  down  would  go  the 
weight,  two  or  three  feet  only,  and  strike  the  pile.  Such  pile- 
driving  is  not  seen  save  where  there  is  a  superfluity  of  hands, 


118  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

with  an  absence  of  mechanical  skill  or  adaptability.  Yet  this 
was  a  government  work,  and  under  the  superintendence,  indi- 
rectly at  least,  of  a  Dutchman,  who  realized  the  fact  that  there 
were  plenty  of  Malays,  and  to  spare,  on  the  island  of  Java. 

Passing  along  through  the  Malay  village,  the  houses  built  of 
bamboo  and  raised  three  feet  from  the  ground,  to  guard  against 
the  entrance  of  serpents,  and  on  to  the  outskirts,  we  saw  a 
famous  banyan-tree, — indeed,  one  of  the  largest  known  to  voya- 
gers. As  most  persons  know,  this  tree  is  at  the  head  of  a  family 
having  the  habit  of  extending  their  limbs  until  their  weight 
brings  their  ends  to  the  ground,  when  they  take  root,  and  an 
"  annex"  grows,  making  an  indefinite  extension  over  an  acre  or 
more. 

A  Malay  village  has  a  peculiar  smell,  which  any  one  would 
recognize  at  once,  due  partly,  perhaps,  to  the  inhabitants'  living 
on  the  "durio,"  a  fruit  that  grows  in  great  abundance  on  the 
island  of  Java.  In  shape  and  size  it  resembles  a  muskmelon, 
and  when  cut  emits  a  very  disagreeable  odor  no  longer  percepti- 
ble after  tasting  the  fruit :  it  is  delicious  and  wholesome.  The 
"  mangosteen"  is  about  the  size  of  a  hickory-nut  enclosed  in 
its  hull,  when  embrowned  by  the  frost ;  the  hull  then  has  a  rich 
color,  too,  not  unlike  the  "  mangosteen  :"  the  rind  of  the  latter, 
though,  is  soft,  and  when  cut  and  laid  open  is  of  a  rich  maroon 
color ;  this  cover  is  half  an  inch  thick,  and  on  being  removed  a 
pearly-white  fruit  is  found,  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter,  ex- 
tremely delicate  in  texture,  and  when  taken  in  the  mouth  and 
gently  pressed  is  found  to  be  of  a  delicious  flavor,  with  a  sus- 
picion of  subacid ;  after  being  pressed  by  the  tongue,  nothing  is 
left  but  a  very  thin  sack,  quite  like  gauze,  and  rarely  a  seed  is 
found.  This  fruit  is  strictly  intertropical ;  indeed,  it  is  found  in 
perfection  only  on  the  Indian  Archipelago. 

A  day  or  so  after  our  arrival  at  Anjier  Point,  I  asked  a  Malay 
if  they  killed  many  Bengal  tigers ;  he  replied  that  "  Malaya 
man  no  kill  tiger,  but  tiger  kill  plenty  Malaya  man."  The 
whole  country  is  infested  with  tigers,  and  the  foliage  is  so  dense 
that  they  can  pounce  upon  a  poor  fellow  at  labor  with  more 
facility  than  they  can  on  an  ordinary  animal  with  quicker  per- 
ceptions whose  task  is  simply  to  pick  its  food.     I  hired  a  boat, 


WATER  FILLED    WITH  ANIMALCULES.  H9 

and  the  services  of  several  Malays,  landing  at  a  spot  indicated 
by  them,  several  miles  to  the  eastward,  and  around  a  point,  to 
have  a  hunt  over  the  country  to  the  village.  We  had  no  sooner 
left  the  beach  than  we  entered  a  dense  forest  of  tall  trees,  the 
tops  of  which  were  covered  by  a  canopy  of  vines,  not  simply 
covering  the  trees,  but  running  from  one  to  another,  and  fairly 
shutting  out  the  sunlight,  making  a  dim  obscurity.  But  this 
was  not  all ;  notwithstanding  the  dense  shade,  weeds  as  high  as 
a  man  spread  over  the  soil  in  every  direction ;  insects  filled  the 
air  and  covered  the  ground,  so  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  step 
without  putting  an  end  to  animal  life.  My  Malay  guides  walked 
with  caution,  and,  I  have  no  doubt,  led  me  through  to  a  cleared 
country  in  the  least  possible  distance.  I  could  very  well  see  how 
it  was  that  tigers  had  it  all  their  own  way  in  such  a  jungle.  On 
reaching  open  ground  we  were  at  an  elevation  of  two  hundred 
feet,  with  easy  slopes,  and  rice-fields  lying  beyond.  We  heard 
the  shouts  of  a  number  of  men  and  the  yelping  of  several  dogs, 
and,  looking  over  on  the  fields,  saw  a  number  of  Malays  with 
their  dogs  in  pursuit  of  an  enormous  wild  boar,  that  sped  his 
way  to  the  hard  ground  on  which  we  were  standing,  in  a  direc- 
tion diagonal  to  the  course  we  were  pursuing.  I  quickened 
my  pace  to  a  run  in  order  to  get  a  shot,  but  my  Malay  guides, 
who  were  behind,  uttered  a  yell,  and  I  involuntarily  paused, 
and  turned  back  to  assist  them.  Then  their  countenances  were 
as  placid  as  possible.  Again  I  started  on  the  run,  and  again 
the  same  cry  ;  but  I  did  not  heed  it  this  time.  The  boar  took 
a  course  from  me  at  a  distance  of  nearly  one  hundred  yards.  I 
fired  at  him,  but  he  kept  on  his  way,  and  was  soon  lost  behind 
a  hill  covered  sparsely  with  bushes.  A  wild  boar  in  movement, 
with  his  head  high  in  air,  and  bristling  with  defiance,  although 
running,  is  a  magnificent  sight.  We  found  our  way  back  to  the 
village  without  having  a  shot  at  anything,  and  without  coming 
across  any  of  the  numerous  serpents  found  in  that  region. 

We  watered  ship  at  Anjier;  the  color  was  that  of  water  that 
had  been  poured  into  a  goblet  previously  filled  with  milk,  and 
not  rinsed.  Where  it  came  from  I  do  not  know,  but  I  suppose 
from  the  ditches  that  ran  through  the  rice-fields.  We  soon 
knew  more  about  it  than  was  pleasant :  when  a  goblet  was  nearly 


120  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

filled,  and  a  tablespoonful  of  gin  added,  in  a  few  minutes  the 
bodies  of  little  animals,  as  large  around  as  a  fine  needle,  and 
two-thirds  of  an  inch  in  length,  having  the  movement  of  a 
snake,  became  visible,  through  the  alcohol  making  them  opaque. 
They  did  not  enjoy  the  mixture,  and,  either  in  a  state  of  in- 
ebriation or  overpowered,  they  settled  quietly  on  the  bottom  of 
the  goblet,  and  when  the  water  was  poured  into  another  goblet, 
half  a  dozen  or  more  of  these  little  creatures  would  be  found 
lying  at  the  bottom. 

A  week  after  the  arrival  of  the  Columbus  we  got  under  way, 
accompanying  her  to  Batavia  Roads,  where  we  arrived  on  the 
24th  of  October,  1845.  Our  arrival  at  Anjier  was  a  month  too 
late :  a  passage  up  the  China  Sea  was  no  longer  practicable,  for 
the  reason  that  long  before  we  could  reach  Hong-Kong  the 
northeast  monsoon  would  set  in,  causing  a  very  strong  current 
down  the  sea,  which,  with  a  head-wind,  would  make  the  voyage 
impracticable.  We  were  too  late  for  the  China  Sea  or  direct 
route,  and  too  early  for  the  "  roundabout  routes"  that  have  to 
be  pursued  by  sailing-vessels  having  head-winds  to  contend 
with. 

The  island  of  Java  lies  nearly  east  and  west  a  length  of  six 
hundred  miles,  and  is  relatively  narrow ;  north  of  it  is  the  Java 
Sea,  quite  shoal  for  the  greater  part  of  its  length, — less,  in  fact, 
than  one  hundred  feet  in  depth. 

A  few  miles  after  leaving  Anjier,  we  turned  into  this  sea, 
and,  although  Batavia  was  only  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles,  owing  to  calms  we  were  several  days  on  the  voyage. 
Quite  a  remarkable  feature,  as  we  passed  along,  was  the  sight 
of  long  bamboos  stuck  in  the  mud  as  guides,  miles  away  from 
the  shore.  Sixty  feet  in  length  may  well  be  called  giant  grass, 
and  they  were  fully  that,  and  eight  inches  in  diameter. 

The  water  of  the  Java  Sea  teems  with  animal  life ;  pulling 
on  shore  to  some  of  the  verdant  islands  that  lie  without  the 
anchorage  off  Batavia,  we  found  the  biche  de  mer  of  small  size, 
much  prized  by  the  Chinese  as  food.  An  old  sailor  who  had 
spent  several  years  in  that  trade  told  me  he  had  tried  to  cook 
them  without  other  result  than  finding  a  substance  tough  as 
shoe-leather.     Years  before,  as  previously  mentioned,  I  saw  much 


SEA-SERPENTS.  121 

larger  specimens  in  Mahon  harbor ;  they  were  quite  black  in 
color,  perhaps  one  foot  in  length,  and  nearly  two  inches  in 
diameter ;  those  on  the  reefs  of  these  islands  were  not  half  the 
size.  They  abound  in  all  the  coralline  islands  of  the  Pacific, 
especially  in  the  Feejee  and  Samoan  groups.  After  being 
caught,  or  rather  picked  up,  for  they  have  so  slow  a  movement 
that  it  is  not  perceptible  to  the  eye,  they  are  split  open,  and 
then  subjected  to  a  smoking  and  drying  process.  The  Chinese 
are  the  only  people  who  value  them  as  food  or  understand  their 
preparation. 

We  lay  some  four  miles  from  Batavia,  the  water  being  shoal 
a  long  distance  out,  and  few  of  the  officers  of  either  vessel  went 
on  shore.  I  was  not  of  their  number,  and  only  knew  of  its 
features  through  what  they  said. 

When  nightfall  came,  the  land-breeze  set  in,  and  until  morn- 
ing we  had  "  the  smell  of  the  mould,"  or  land,  which,  in  the 
tropics,  is  usual,  and  to  me  very  agreeable,  nor  is  it  in  any 
degree  malarial ;  vessels  anchor  off  the  west  coast  of  Africa, 
within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  land,  and  the  men  are  entirely 
healthy,  provided  they  do  not  go  on  shore  until  the  sun  is  well 
up,  and  come  off  before  the  sun  sets. 

After  lying  four  days  off  Batavia,  we  left  to  make  our  long 
roundabout  voyage  to  the  coast  of  China,  which  was  sixty-two 
days  for  the  Columbus  aud  seventy  for  the  Vincennes.  The 
winds  were  very  light,  but  mostly  fair,  for  a  few  days,  inter- 
spersed with  calms  for  hours.  The  water  was  muddy,  and  at 
times  unbroken  by  a  ripple ;  the  sun  glared  down  upon  the  sea 
with  intense  heat ;  the  atmosphere  was  damp  and  stifling,  and  at 
intervals  we  would  have  light  showers.  The  water  was  alive 
with  animal  life,  and,  what  I  had  not  seen  before,  the  sea 
swarmed  with  serpents,  varying  from  two  to  three  feet  in  length, 
and  known  to  be  extremely  venomous.  Passing  along  at  the 
rate  of  one  or  two  knots  an  hour,  with  a  breeze  scarcely  per- 
ceptible, they  would  be  seen  lying  coiled  up  on  the  surface, 
remaining  undisturbed  when  even  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
vessel. 

The  water  we  had  taken  on  board  at  Anjier  began  to  have 
fatal  effect.     An  East  India  dysentery  does  not  take  long  to 


122  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

carry  off  its  victim  j  in  a  day  or  so  after  being  attacked,  the 
nostrils  are  pinched  and  mark  its  ravages.  The  first  man  who 
died  was  the  carpenter's  mate,  a  very  bright,  active  man,  and, 
as  a  mark  of  respect,  our  first  lieutenant  asked  the  captain  to 
allow  him  to  have  a  coffin  made  to  bury  him  j  this  was  done ; 
when  weighted  with  a  couple  of  twenty-four-pound  shot  and 
thrown  overboard,  it  stood  a  couple  of  feet  out  of  water.  A 
boat  was  sent  to  attach  weights  to  sink  it,  and  afterwards  the 
orthodox  way  of  burying  at  sea  was  adhered  to, — sewing  the 
man  up  in  canvas,  and  attaching  two  round  shot  to  his  feet. 
Unhappily,  this  was  frequent.  On  several  occasions  we  buried 
two  the  same  day,  and  in  fifteen  months  actually  lost  one-fourth 
of  the  crew, — in  all  about  fifty. 

Soon  after  leaving  Batavia,  I  was  attacked,  as  also  several 
other  officers ;  the  doctor  wished  me  to  continue  to  lie  on  my 
bed  the  whole  day,  but  I  insisted  on  going  on  deck  to  take  my 
sights  for  calculating  the  position  of  the  ship,  and  worked  them 
out;  I  did  this  when  it  seemed  to  me  impossible  to  live  more 
than  a  few  days.  To  a  young  man  this  was  a  lugubrious  out- 
look, yet  I  continued  to  navigate  the  ship  the  whole  voyage. 

After  a  course  of  several  hundred  miles  nearly  east,  the  Java 
Sea  terminates,  and  the  Straits  of  Macassar  stretch  along  the 
eastern  coast  of  Borneo,  as  the  Java  Sea  runs  along  its  south- 
ern border.  The  northern  part  of  Macassar  Straits  is  deeper, 
and  the  course  is  a  little  east  of  north.  It  was  more  than  one 
month  before  we  got  around  Cape  Kanneoongan,  the  eastern  end 
of  Borneo.  A  head-current  held  us  off  that  point  for  days, 
until  one  night  we  anchored  by  a  kedge  on  a  ledge,  fifty  fathoms 
deep,  and  getting  a  good  land-breeze,  passed  into  the  Sea  of 
Celebes,  a  very  deep  water  of  a  deep-blue  color,  surrounded  by 
highlands,  that  in  the  early  daylight  are  to  be  seen  a  hundred 
miles  or  more,  but  as  the  sun  rises  soon  become  obscured  in 
mists,  so  that  even  the  shore-lines  are  invisible. 

Although  light,  the  winds  were  more  constant  in  the  Sea  of 
Celebes,  and  often  fair.  A  curious  feature  was  that  almost  daily, 
for  hours,  we  would  have  several  incipient  water-spouts  in  sight 
at  once ;  they  seemed  never  to  gain  force,  as  is  usual,  but  would 
sweep  along,  often  not  distant  from  us,  and  did  not  disturb  the 


MONKEYS  AND   BABOONS  AS   COMMISSARIES.         123 

surface  of  the  water.  The  sea  was  smooth,  and  sailing  over  it 
were  numbers  of  the  nautilus-shell,  so  delicate  that  a  slight  blow 
breaks  it,  so  that  but  few  are  thrown  on  the  beach  in  perfect 
condition. 

At  last  we  passed  into  the  free  waters  of  the  Pacific,  near  the 
high  volcanic  islands  of  Scio  and  Tagolanda,  which  twenty-five 
years  later  belched  forth  to  such  a  degree  as  to  destroy  nearly 
all  the  inhabitants  upon  them.  The  coasts  of  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago are  inhabited  almost  exclusively  by  the  Malay  race,  who 
are  by  no  means  indifferent  sailors,  and  at  the  time  now  written 
of  were  not  averse  to  attacking  any  becalmed  merchant-vessel 
that  seemed  unprepared.  They  are  mostly  Mohammedans :  in 
build  they  are  thin  and  sinewy  :  on  an  average,  the  males  weigh 
little  over  a  hundred  pounds.  They  are  given  to  drunkenness, 
and  know  how  to  distil  liquor,  which  indeed  is  known  to  every 
race,  perhaps,  except  the  Esquimaux.  Their  boats  were  seen 
frequently,  but  they  did  not  approach  us.  At  Anjier  we  had 
taken  on  board  some  twenty  monkeys  and  baboons,  purchased 
by  officers  and  sailors.  The  community  was  so  large  that  they 
messed  by  themselves,  and,  when  no  longer  furnished  with  food 
by  their  owners,  established  a  system  of  strategy  that  might 
have  been  studied  by  generals  and  admirals  operating  conjointly 
during  our  late  civil  war.  At  early  dawn  the  larger  ones,  to 
the  number  of  half  a  dozen,  would  come  to  the  main-mast  and 
menace  the  officer  of  the  deck  ;  the  tin  trumpet  carried  by  him 
was  recognized  as  the  emblem  of  authority ;  they  had  observed 
that  whenever  the  one  who  carried  it  spoke,  those  on  deck  obeyed, 
or  executed  some  order.  While  the  more  formidable  monkeys 
held  the  officer's  attention  at  the  mast,  the  more  active  would 
steal  aft,  go  into  the  boat  hoisted  astern,  each  take  a  yam  be- 
tween the  fore-paws,  and  scamper  along,  outside  the  hammock- 
netting  on  the  spare  spars,  and  get  inboard:  the  sailors,  not 
being  interested  in  preventing  the  robbery,  were  not  regarded. 
On  reaching  a  place  of  safety,  those  who  held  the  officer  at  bay 
would  go  under  the  launch  where  the  raiders  had  disappeared, 
and  the  proceeds  would  be  divided  in  an  honorable  manner,  or 
at  least  no  quarrelling  or  dissent  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
outside  world.     When  officer  of  the  deck,  and  the  fighting  force 


124  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

menaced  me,  I  was  at  a  loss  to  understand  their  apparent  enmity, 
as  I  had  never  molested  or  annoyed  any  of  their  number.  On 
regarding  them  closely,  I  saw  that  their  attention  was  divided ; 
their  glances  were  cast  beyond  me,  while  the  menace  was  to 
me.  On  observing  the  marauders  returning  with  their  spoils, 
I  took  in  the  situation,  and,  accepting  the  axiom  that  "  a  man 
must  live,"  which  Talleyrand  is  accredited  with  having  denied 
by  saying  that  "  a  man  may  live  if  he  can,  and  die  if  he  must," 
I  was  tolerant  to  the  necessities  of  my  kinsmen,  relatively  little 
developed  in  the  progressive  scale  of  humanity.  It  was  touch- 
ing to  see  the  affection  with  which  those  of  the  same  species 
regarded  each  other ;  they  would  sit  in  silence  for  hours  on  the 
top  of  the  launch,  in  a  circle,  with  their  arms  entwined  around 
each  other,  and,  before  the  mists  had  obscured  the  distant  moun- 
tains, gaze  at  them,  doubtless  bound  together  by  their  common 
suffering  in  captivity.  They  were  clumsy  monkeys ;  from  time 
to  time  one  would  fall  overboard,  throw  his  hands  on  high,  and 
thus  sink  himself  beneath  the  waves  like  the  most  advanced 
type  of  humanity.  In  this  band  of  brothers  the  baboons  were 
not  included  ;  no  loving  arms  embraced  them ;  they  doggedly 
sat  upright  and  alone,  notwithstanding  the  short  stumpy  tail 
with  which  they  were  endowed.  Many  years  ago,  my  friend 
Professor  Nathan  R.  Smith,  an  eminent  surgeon  of  Baltimore, 
told  me  he  had  read  a  very  interesting  account  of  human  beings 
recently  discovered  in  Africa  who  had  not  yet  lost  their  tails, 
but,  for  their  comfort,  sat  on  stools  provided  with  holes,  to  allow 
their  caudal  extremities  to  pass  through.  Notwithstanding  the 
travels  of  Stanley  and  other  explorers  of  the  dark  continent, 
nothing  further  has  come  to  light  in  relation  to  this  interesting 
link  in  the  development  of  the  species. 

Once  out  of  the  closed  waters,  in  the  broad  Pacific,  as  the  old 
sea-song  says,  wind  and  weather  and  currents  favored,  and  we 
passed  on  eastward,  beyond  the  Pelew  Islands,  so  that  wrhen  we 
entered  the  northeast  trade-winds,  or  rather  u  monsoons,"  we 
could  pass  to  windward  of  them  and  between  the  Philippine 
Islands  and  Formosa,  on  our  way  to  Canton  River. 

The  latter  part  of  the  voyage  we  had  a  rattling  breeze,  and 
got  along  rapidly,  but  it  was  bad  on  our  sick,  and  we  buried 


CHINESE    VESSELS   UNDER  ARMS.  125 

many  of  them  as  we  sailed  along.  On  reaching  the  coast,  we 
passed  through  the  harbor  of  Hong-Kong,  then  up  to  the  Bogue 
forts,  about  half-way  between  that  port  and  Canton,  and  an- 
chored on  the  5th  of  January,  1846.  The  Columbus,  that  had 
left  us  in  the  Straits  of  Macassar,  reached  port  ten  days  ahead 
of  us.  We  had  been  sixty-seven  days  making  the  voyage,  and 
our  provisions,  with  the  exception  of  rice,  were  not  at  all  suit- 
able for  the  sick. 

Our  arrival  on  the  coast  of  China  was  some  three  years  after 
the  end  of  the  so-called  "  Opium  War"  and  the  opening  of  the 
five  ports  for  traffic.  The  Bogue  forts  had  a  number  of  guns 
of  large  calibre  and  quite  long,  but  of  no  value  against  the  shell 
guns  used  by  the  English.  The  forts  consisted  of  long  straight 
granite  walls,  four  or  five  feet  thick,  with  thinner  walls  running 
off  into  the  interior,  and  a  back  wall  to  complete  the  enclosure. 
The  Chinese  complained  that  troops  were  landed  and  came  down 
on  them  from  the  rear,  where  they  had  no  guns.  In  their  be- 
lief, it  was  quite  an  unworthy,  if  not  a  dishonorable,  act,  to 
come  up  behind,  instead  of  facing  the  guns  placed  to  bear  on 
the  water  approach.  The  forts  were  not  garrisoned  when  we 
were  there,  and  their  inspection  was  a  curious  revelation  of  what 
that  people  then  knew  of  the  art  of  war.  When  their  war-junks 
passed  us,  at  our  anchorage,  their  crews  were  under  arms,  and 
gongs  sounding,  perhaps  to  inform  us  they  were  ready  for  battle. 
A  long  kind  of  cutter,  pulled  by  about  fifty  men  and  manned 
by  as  many  more,  standing  with  arms  in  their  hands  and  shields 
designed  to  protect  them  as  well  as  the  rowers  against  the  fire  of 
small-arms,  also  passed.  These  boats,  it  was  said,  were  princi- 
pally employed  against  opium-smugglers,  but  going  by  in  re- 
view they  did  not  fail  to  beat  their  gongs  to  inform  us  that  they 
were  ready  to  fight.  The  anchorage  was  pleasant,  the  view 
novel  and  attractive,  with  a  pagoda  near  by  and  others  in  the  dis- 
tance, and,  away  beyond,  ranges  of  hills  of  considerable  heights, 
with  easy  slopes ;  while  all  around,  night  and  day,  a  countless 
number  of  boats,  from  the  little  sanpan  to  the  lordly  East- 
Indiaman,  the  pride  of  Eastern  waters. 

In  a  few  days  the  Yincennes  was  sent  up  to  Whampoa  Reach, 
thirty  miles  above,  and  only  thirteen  miles  below  the  city  of 


126  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

Canton.  Some  two  miles  away,  in  Blenheim  Reach,  was  the 
anchorage  of  a  dozen  or  more  Bombay  and  Calcutta  ships,  and 
in  the  narrower  waters  where  we  anchored  were  hundreds  of 
boats  tied  to  the  shore  and  to  each  other  in  lines,  while  along 
the  fields,  on  the  islands  and  elsewhere,  extending  up  and  down 
the  stream,  were  the  duck-boats  that  we  have  all  read  about 
when  children.  Early  in  the  day  these  boats  are  made  fast  on 
the  borders  of  a  rice-field ;  a  gang-plank  is  put  on  shore,  the 
door-ways  are  opened,  and  the  ducks  walk  out  of  the  broad 
pens  extending  nearly  the  entire  length  of  the  boat,  twenty  or 
more  feet,  and  overhanging  the  water  on  either  side  for  ten  feet. 
Several  hundred  ducks  inhabit  each  of  these  boats ;  and,  grow- 
ing up  under  authority,  they  are  very  obedient  to  it.  The  man 
in  charge  has  a  long  bamboo  stick  with  a  mark  or  emblem  on 
the  end  that  the  ducks  have  to  recognize  when  he  waves  it  on 
high  and  shouts  to  them  to  return  to  the  boat  for  the  night.  On 
the  signal  being  made,  there  is  no  loitering  by  the  way ;  a  steady, 
earnest  push  is  made  to  the  particular  boat  of  the  occupants, 
and  they  pass  over  the  gang-plank  in  haste,  in  order  to  avoid 
being  the  recipient  of  the  flogging  awaiting  the  last  one  that 
enters.  As  one  is  obliged  to  be  last,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  the 
infliction  of  this  punishment  "justice  is  tempered  by  mercy." 

Well-read  persons  know  that  all  the  boatmen  and  many  of 
the  laborers  of  China,  especially  the  coolies,  or  carriers,  are  of 
the  Tartar  race  :  they  are  usually  small,  active,  and  much  darker 
than  the  Chinese.  The  families  of  the  boatmen  and  junkmen 
are  generally  a  part  of  the  crew,  and  live  on  board.  In  China, 
no  one  can  get  a  wife  merely  for  the  asking;  and  many  of  the 
sanpan  men  will  tell  you  with  pride,  fully  shared  in  by  the  wife, 
how  much  had  been  paid  for  her.  Going  to  Canton  in  a  sanpan, 
the  crew  consisted  of  the  owner,  a  man  of  thirty,  a  boy,  and  his 
wife,  who  used  a  scull  and  did  the  steering  and  a  part  of  the 
propulsion,  while  the  man  and  a  boy  of  a  dozen  years  of  age 
pulled  oars  on  the  bow.  The  sanpan  is  about  fifteen  feet  in 
length,  and  four  feet  or  more  in  width,  and  has  a  rounded  cover- 
ing, about  eight  feet  in  length,  over  the  central  part,  with  other 
sections  forward  and  aft,  which  when  hauled  out  from  their  tel- 
escopic position  enclose  the  whole  interior  against  the  weather. 


CHINESE  MODES  OF  BURIAL.  127 

The  cooking  is  done  on  the  bow,  in  a  small  charcoal  arrange- 
ment, and  this,  with  one  or  two  pots,  when  not  in  use  is  stowed 
underneath  the  forward  deck,  while  beneath  the  after  deck  are 
packed  the  clothing  and  general  provisions  of  the  crew.  The 
central  part  has  a  floor  near  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  with  a  depth, 
from  the  top  of  the  boat  proper  to  the  keel,  of  about  three  feet. 
Everything  about  the  boat  is  kept  very  clean.  The  sanpan  is 
intended  for  only  one  passenger,  but  three  can  sleep  comfortably 
on  mats  within  the  bamboo  covering  :  it  is  not  intended,  however, 
that  passengers  shall  remain  on  the  boat  except  in  transit. 

As  we  passed  along  up  the  river,  I  learned,  in  answer  to  my 
inquiries,  that  the  man  had  paid  seventy  dollars  for  his  wife ; 
this  information  made  her  radiant  with  smiles.  She  was  a  nice- 
looking  little  woman,  with  very  pretty  feet  and  hands.  She 
wTore  a  kind  of  sack  over  her  shoulders,  and  in  it  carried  the  son 
and  heir  of  the  establishment,  who  after  a  time  was  laid  down 
on  the  deck.  After  the  children  on  boats  become  a  year  or  so  of 
age,  they  have  a  small  buoy  attached  to  them,  to  facilitate  their 
recovery  when  they  fall  overboard.  The  young  wife  of  our 
sanpan-m&n.  had  a  dower  of  a  pair  of  geese  and  a  pair  of  ducks, 
and  the  husband  had  entered  into  obligations  to  bury  the  grand- 
father when  he  died.  After  a  man  marries,  the  question  of  life 
is  to  provide  a  burial-spot  for  himself  and  family ;  or,  if  not 
able  to  get  this,  to  buy  a  spot  wherein  to  place  jars  with  the 
cremated  ashes  of  his  family.  Looking  around  on  shore  in  every 
direction,  especially  on  hill-sides  with  southern  exposures,  were 
seen  the  burial-lots  of  the  wealthy,  in  the  general  form  of  a 
horseshoe,  within  which  the  interments  were  made.  Persons  of 
position  are  often  not  buried  for  twenty  years  after  death ;  in 
the  mean  time  their  remains  are  in  a  large  strong  box  made  of 
camphor-wood,  placed  on  supports  three  feet  above  the  ground, 
covered  over  by  a  framework  to  exclude  the  rain,  but  otherwise 
open  to  the  weather ;  after  being  put  into  the  box  the  body  is 
covered  entirely  with  fresh  slaked  lime. 

Among  the  picturesque  sights  from  the  anchorage  at  midnight 
were  long  processions  bearing  torches,  passing  over  the  high  hills, 
not  far  from  Canton :  we  were  told  that  they  were  burial- 
processions. 


128         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER    XL 

Arrival  at  Canton—  Flo wer-Boats — Pigeon  English — Markets — Shops — Billy 
Poole,  "  the  Biggest  Toad  in  the  Puddle" — Chinese  Dinners  and  "Customs 
— Price  of  a  Wife — Dwarfing  Feet — Parsee  Merchants — Buffaloes — Milk 
not  from  Cattle — Cholera  on  the  Columbus — The  Grave  of  the  Portuguese 
Poet  Camoens — The  Columbus  and  Vincennes  sail  for  Northern  China — 
Amoy — Dining  with  the  Governor — The  Chusan  Islands — Yeddo  Bay — 
The  Daimio — Nagasaki — Lieutenant  Mcintosh  throws  the  Poles  off  the 
Bows  placed  there  by  the  Japanese — Japanese  Artists — A  Squall — Object 
of  the  Visit  of  the  American  Vessels — Dual  Government — The  Japanese 
Officials  visit  the  Columbus  to  reply  to  the  Commodore's  Letter — A  Mishap 
and  an  Explanation — Presents  declined. 

On  arriving  at  Canton,  the  thousands  of  boats  tied  to  each 
other  and  extending  far  out  into  the  narrow  river,  leaving  only 
room  enough  between  the  two  shores  to  permit  a  free  passage  of 
boats,  filled  me  with  surprise.  I  could  well  believe  their  occu- 
pants numbered  several  hundred  thousand,  and  that  when  a 
typhoon  came  up  suddenly  twenty  thousand  or  more  would  be 
drowned,  a  calamity  read  of  from  time  to  time.  Many  of  the 
wealthy  had  what  were  known  as  "flower-boats," — floatiug 
apartments,  gayly  decorated  with  flowers  in  pots,  and  moved  by 
oars  from  one  locality  to  another,  as  desired.  It  is  said  that 
something  akin  to  this  is  now  to  be  found  on  the  Thames,  above 
London. 

The  streets  of  Canton  without  the  walls  were  narrow,  yet 
considerably  wider  than  those  within  the  walls  ;  by  treaty,  for- 
eigners were  permitted  to  go  within,  but  for  years  they  were 
driven  out  ignominiously  by  indiguant  Chinese.  The  largest 
shops  were  without  the  walls,  and  there  was  really  no  reason  why 
one  should  wish  to  enter  the  other  part  of  the  city,  save  the  in- 
nate desire  to  do  what  is  forbidden,  or  curiosity  to  see  the  pro- 
vision-stores, containing  large  quantities  of  dried  ducks,  and  not 
a  few  dried  rats,  as  well  as  other  Chinese  delicacies.  I  saw  a 
man  with  great  round  spectacles,  sitting  in  the  market  j  before 
him  were  the  two  heads  and  four  legs  and  outer  pinions  of  a 
pair  of  ducks,  and  in  a  bamboo  basket  a  pair  of  cats ;  a  customer 


SHOPS. 


129 


came  along  and  asked  prices,  and  from  time  to  time  one  would 
feel  the  heads  of  the  cats,  to  ascertain  their  condition. 

At  that  time  the  Chinese  had  not  much  intercourse  with  other 
than  the  hong  merchants,  who  bought  what  they  desired  through 
their  compradores,  or  purchasers.  In  passing,  a  navy  officer  was 
always  invited  into  one  shop  or  the  other,  and  in  looking  around 
would  price  the  articles  of  ivory,  porcelain,  or  other  manufacture. 
The  conversation  was  carried  on  in  "  pigeon  English,"  the  word 
"  pigeon"  signifying  business  in  that  idiom.  A  book  of  instruc- 
tion has  been  published,  and  it  is  not  only  taught  to  the  ignorant, 
but  is  learned  by  all  Chinese  and  foreigners  who  have  dealings 
with  each  other.  The  foreigner  enters  a  shop,  and  says,  "  My 
wanchee  chessmen."  The  Chinaman  answers,  "  Hab  got,"  and 
produces  various  sizes  and  qualities.  If  the  best  are  shown,  he 
says,  "  First  chop."  If  he  has  not  what  is  asked  for,  he  says, 
"  No  hab  got ;  can  secure,"  meaning  that  he  will  obtain  it.  So 
thoroughly  is  this  language  appreciated  and  used  in  intercourse 
that  coolies  and  boatmen  from  Northern  and  Southern  China  hold 
their  conversations  in  this  foreign  language,  not  being  able  to  com- 
municate otherwise.  A  foreigner  will  say  to  a  Chinaman,  "  How 
many  pie-ce  chilo  hab  got  ?"  The  intelligent  and  learned  China- 
man will  reply,  "  Hab  got  three  bull  chilo,  one  cow  chilo ;"  and 
this  conveys  the  information  that  he  has  three  boys  and  one  girl. 

I  have  not  met  more  able  business-men  than  the  Chinese ;  as 
shopkeepers  they  surpass  all  others.  At  the  time  of  my  visit 
they  charged  persons  like  myself  all  they  could  get, — that  is  to 
say,  two  or  three  times  the  ordinary  price  paid.  On  a  visit  to 
China  more  than  twenty  years  later  I  found  this  no  longer  in 
vogue,  but  the  price  asked  was  what  would  have  to  be  paid.  On 
my  first  visit,  in  a  shop  of  good  repute  I  asked  for  one  thing 
and  another,  and  the  prices,  laying  aside  such  articles  as  I  wished 
to  purchase.  As  the  bill  mounted  up,  the  shopkeeper  became 
nervous;  doubtless  he  had  lost  sales  to  just  such  customers  as 
myself  through  exorbitant  demands.  After  I  had  summed  up 
his  prices,  he  demanded,  "  How  muchce  ?"  I  offered  him  a  little 
more  than  one-third  of  his  demand,  to  which  he  replied,  "  No 
can  do."  Instead  of  increasing  my  offer,  I  looked  around  and 
saw  something  else  that  I  wished,  and  added,  "  Kumshore  my 


130  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

this."  "  Hi-ah  !  how  can  do?"  he  said.  I  then  looked  around, 
and  demanded  another  present,  instead  of  increasing  my  offer. 
As  he  was  much  more  desirous  of  selling  than  I  of  buying,  and 
surely  would  derive  more  profit  from  it,  my  purchases  being  in- 
tended for  presents,  he  said,  on  my  second  demand,  "  Mas  que, — 
can  do,"  and  I  paid  him  the  money.  To  the  credit  of  these 
shopmen,  I  can  say  that,  even  when  the  question  of  sale  was  on 
such  terms,  I  have  never  heard  of  one  of  them  putting  up  inferior 
articles,  or  omitting  anything  that  had  been  purchased,  even  when 
they  knew  the  parcels  would  not  be  opened  until  reaching  home. 

Whampoa  Reach  was  altogether  a  pleasant  anchorage  ;  there 
was  a  hulk  there,  owned  by  a  cross-eyed  countryman  of  ours, 
who  sold  ship-stores  to  us  in  the  daytime,  and  opium  to  the 
Chinese  in  the  night,  which  was  carried  off  in  boats  of  great 
swiftness,  further  facilitated,  it  was  said,  by  bribery  of  Chinese 
officials.  This  floating  storehouse  was  a  species  of  social  ex- 
change, where  the  officers  of  vessels-of-war  and  those  of  opium- 
clippers  and  other  persons  met.  There  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  Billy  Poole,  a  countryman,  who  assured  me  that  he  was 
the  "  biggest  toad  in  that  puddle ;"  and  so  he  was.  He  com- 
manded an  American  tug  engaged  in  some  trade  perhaps  more 
profitable  than  honest.  He  was  heavily  built,  a  blond,  genial 
to  a  degree,  and  could  hold  as  much  strong  drink  as  a  pitcher. 

The  Blenheim  Reach  captains  did  not  visit  our  exchange,  but 
from  time  to  time  would  invite  us  to  dances  or  dinners  on  board 
of  one  ship  or  the  other.  Several  of  them  had  their  wives  on 
board,  and,  as  the  male  sex  largely  predominated,  everybody 
was  happy.  There  were  songsters  in  the  fleet,  and  for  the  first 
and  last  time  I  heard  sung, — 

"  Oh,  needles  and  pins,  needles  and  pins, 
When  a  man  marries,  his  trouble  begins." 

It  did  not  strike  me  as  a  "  delicate  sentiment  to  a  sensitive  mind." 
All  the  ships  were  supplied  by  compradores  ;  "  Old  Sam"  was 
known  to  our  countrymen  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  yet  he 
was  supposed  to  have  shortened  his  life  by  the  inordinate  use  of 
opium.  A  caterer  of  a  mess  had  only  to  say,  "  I  wish  this 
thing,  and  that,  to-morrow  morning,"  and  it  was  brought.     A 


CHINESE  DINNERS  AND  CUSTOMS.  131 

small  kind  of  quail,  many  varieties  of  ducks,  wild  geese,  and 
other  game,  if  desired,  would  be  brought  on  board  alive. 

Although  their  dinner  begins  where  ours  ends, — by  eating 
fruit, — I  am  by  no  means  disposed  to  decry  the  custom,  as  is 
the  usual  habit  of  foreigners.  The  bird's-nest  soup,  so  highly 
prized  by  them,  would  be  taken  for  a  fine  vermicelli  soup.  For 
the  most  part,  their  dishes  are  stews,  and  the  person  partaking 
would  only  know  what  was  before  him  on  being  told.  All  great 
feasts  end  with  a  lacquered  pig,  and  that,  of  course,  should  be 
known  to  all  our  countrymen  ;  so,  if  the  dinner  has  been  passed 
over  slightingly,  there  comes  up  a  form  and  a  substantiality  be- 
yond question.  Our  caterer  ordered  a  wild  goose  for  dinner ;  to 
our  surprise,  we  found  it  had  the  marks  of  our  domestic  bird, 
and  saw  that  their  tame  goose  had  the  marks  of  our  wild  one, 
but  it  is  a  very  fat  bird,  quite  unable  to  fly. 

The  customs  of  the  people  are  in  general  the  reverse  of  those 
that  obtain  with  Europeans.  Any  common  person  who  should 
enter  the  house  of  a  man  of  rank  and  take  off  his  hat  and  keep 
on  his  shoes  would  be  thrust  out  for  his  rudeness.  When  the 
Chinese  go  into  mourning,  they  wear  white ;  their  books  begin 
where  ours  end, — at  the  back ;  and  they  read  from  the  right 
hand  to  the  left,  and  from  the  top  of  the  page  to  the  bottom, 
instead  of  across  the  page.  A  Chinese  teacher  said,  "  When  you 
receive  a  distinguished  guest,  do  not  fail  to  place  him  on  your 
left  hand,  for  that  is  the  seat  of  honor ;  and  be  cautious  not  to 
uncover  the  head,  as  it  would  be  an  unbecoming  act  of  famili- 
arity." In  his  further  instruction  he  said,  "  The  most  learned 
men.  are  decidedly  of  opinion  that  the  seat  of  the  human  under- 
standing is  the  heart."  The  military  men  carry  their  swords 
on  the  right  side,  and  mount  and  dismount  from  a  horse  on  that 
side,  and  the  Japanese  do  so  also.  To  offer  your  hand,  in  either 
country,  would  be  regarded  as  a  vulgar  familiarity ;  instead  they 
clasp  their  own  hands  together,  gently  raise  them  to  their  breast, 
then  lower  them  to  a  horizontal  position  with  the  elbow,  and 
then  make  a  profound  bow,  slowly  rising  to  a  perpendicular. 
In  all  countries,  a  true  politeness  is  shown  by  the  conventional 
form  expressing  an  intention. 

On  board  of  the  Vincennes,  I  asked  the  man  who  supplied 


132  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

us  with  vegetables  what  he  paid  for  his  wife,  for  be  it  known 
that  there  are  no  bachelors  in  China,  no  men  without  wives, 
except  vagabonds  who  lack  the  means  of  support.  The  man 
said,  one  hundred  dollars.  In  pigeon  English  I  informed  him 
that  "  they  makee  you  too  muchee  foolo,"  as  I  had  seen  the  boat- 
man's wife  whose  price  was  only  seventy  dollars,  and,  besides, 
she  had  a  dower  of  a  pair  of  geese  and  ducks.  I  saw  before 
me  an  indignant  Chinaman,  and  I  remember  him  as  the  only 
one  that  has  fallen  under  my  observation.  He  tried  to  make 
me  understand  that  boatwomen  were  quite  an  inferior  class,  and 
that  his  wife  was  a  superior  woman  in  all  respects.  A  man  of 
rank  is  supposed  to  pay  one  thousand  dollars  for  his  wife. 

The  women  of  the  Tartar  race,  even  of  high  rank,  are  said 
not  to  pinch  or  dwarf  their  feet.  It  is  usually  supposed  that 
this  custom  belongs  exclusively  to  Chinese  women  of  rank  and 
wealth  ;  this  is  not  the  case,  however,  for  I  have  seen  hundreds  of 
women  with  little  feet  setting  out  rice  on  the  fields  near  Shang- 
hai. It  arises  probably  from  the  same  vanity  that  causes  in 
Europe  and  this  country  the  pinching  up  of  the  waist,  and  is 
less  injurious  to  the  health,  and  really  to  the  appearance,  of  the 
woman.  In  the  one  case  there  is  the  distorted  foot,  and  a  con- 
siderable flesh-growth  in  the  ankle ;  in  the  other,  a  weakened 
and  distorted  spine,  a  disordered  arrangement  of  the  internal 
organs,  and  an  impaired  condition  of  health,  all  to  obtain  a  per- 
verted and  graceless  figure. 

The  walks  on  the  islands  near  Whampoa  were  very  pleasant. 
Numerous  trees,  bearing  what  we  know  in  this  country  as  the 
lychee  nut,  and  patches  of  long  waving  bamboos,  are  found  near 
the  cottages  of  the  owners. 

Land  is  more  equally  divided  in  China  than  elsewhere ;  the 
proprietor  of  a  ten-acre  field  of  hard,  good  land  would  be  among 
the  wealthy.  Their  rice-fields  are  very  productive ;  and,  con- 
sidering the  habit  of  life  of  well-to-do  people,  a  small  amount  of 
money,  or  its  equivalent,  is  a  great  deal  of  wealth  with  them.  In 
these  days  our  surgeon,  the  counterpart  of  "  Little  Nell's"  grand- 
father, would  sit  quietly  below,  or  come  on  deck  and  look  around, 
without  proposing  to  go  on  shore.  From  time  to  time  I  would 
invite  him  to  go  with  me ;  he  accepted  my  invitations  with  a 


MILK  NOT  FROM  CATTLE.  133 

grateful  smile,  but  as  we  passed  along  he  rarely  made  a  remark, 
or,  if  any,  only  that  we  had  a  pleasant  day,  or  that  the  bamboos 
sheltering  a  house  were  very  pretty. 

On  one  occasion  we  met  several  Parsee  merchants  when  I  had 
my  rifle  and  was  shooting  at  a  mark  some  sixty  yards  distant. 
They  were  somewhat  curious  in  examining  my  weapon  and  the 
ammunition,  and  expressed  surprise  at  the  accuracy  with  which 
the  balls  were  sent.  As  is  well  known,  the  Parsees  are  among 
the  wealthy  men  of  India  and  the  East.  Although  they  visited 
China  in  ships  belonging  to  them,  I  doubt  if  at  that  time  any 
of  them  were  located  there.  They  are  very  distinguished  in 
appearance :  indeed,  I  never  saw  an  indifferent-looking  one. 
They  are  above  a  medium  height,  with  a  light  olive  complexion, 
very  intelligent  faces,  with  admirable  profiles,  a  little  too  stout 
to  indicate  agility,  and  clothed  in  white  flowing  garments  which 
give  them  an  increased  appearance  of  size. 

On  another  occasion  we  met  a  Chinese  whom  I  took  to  be  a 
leper.  He  was  deathly  white,  and  his  face  was  covered  thinly 
with  white  stiff  hairs,  half  an  inch  or  more  in  length,  and 
about  the  thickness  of  an  ordinary  needle.  He  appeared  de- 
lighted that  he  had  caused  a  sensation. 

At  times  we  would  come  suddenly  upon  a  buffalo,  lying  in  a 
muddy  ditch  filled  with  water,  with  only  the  head  out,  to  pro- 
tect itself  from  the  bites  of  insects.  When  aroused,  they  were 
disposed  to  show  fight.  They  were  as  large  in  frame  as  our 
cattle,  with  short  hair  of  a  mouse  color,  and  horns  not  unlike 
those  of  our  bison,  that  we  call  buffalo.  This  animal  furnishes 
the  only  beef  in  China ;  and,  to  carry  out  opposites  in  almost 
everything,  the  tenderloin  is  to  be  found  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  bone  from  our  beeves. 

When  we  first  arrived  in  China,  we  had  our  mess  furnished 
with  fresh  milk  for  our  tea  and  coffee,  but  gave  it  up  when  we 
learned  that  it  was  not  in  fact  from  cattle,  but  a  profitable 
source  of  industry  to  women  who  could  spare  some  from  their 
baby  supply.  After  reaching  maturity  that  nutrition  is  no 
longer  attractive,  and  you  will  not  meet  many  men,  who  have 
spent  part  of  their  lives  in  China,  who  are  addicted  to  the  use 
of  milk  in  coffee. 


134  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Early  in  March  we  dropped  down  to  the  Bogue,  and  a  few- 
days  later  went  to  the  roads  off  Macao.  The  water  is  shoal 
for  miles  out,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  Canton  River,  or  rather 
the  archipelago  into  which  it  discharges,  is  quite  extended,  lying 
between  high  and  picturesque  islands,  those  nearest  the  sea 
being  more  rocky  and  less  green.  The  outer  islands  have  few 
inhabitants,  while  the  inner  ones  are  thickly  populated.  At 
that  time  the  island  of  Hong-Kong  had  very  few  residents,  and 
the  foreign  population  was  quite  small.  Macao  had  been  in 
possession  of  the  Portuguese  for  more  than  two  and  a  half 
centuries,  and  was  for  many  years  the  summer  residence  of  the 
larger  number  of  foreign  merchants  in  Canton.  Bordered  by 
broad  waters  and  peninsular  in  form,  just  on* the  edge  of  the 
tropics,  it  was  an  agreeable  residence,  and  many  years  ago,  when 
the  Chinese  were  more  exclusive,  it  had  a  large  trade,  but  in 
1846  its  commercial  glory  departed.  The  very  extensive  ware- 
houses were  empty,  and  pleasant  residences  for  Europeans  could 
be  had  at  a  nominal  rental. 

The  Columbus  left  Macao  on  the  15th  of  March  for  Manila. 
She  was  ten  days  in  making  the  voyage,  and  after  less  than  a 
week  her  crew  began  to  die  of  cholera,  and  she  left  for  Macao, 
where  she  anchored  on  the  9th  of  April,  having  lost  twelve 
men.  What  is  known  as  Manila  cholera  is  not  the  true  Asiatic, 
although  the  treatment  is  the  same ;  it  is  not  at  all  infectious, 
and  on  her  return  we  went  on  board  without  fear  of  attack. 
The  true  Asiatic  cholera  has  visited  Manila  several  times  since 
then,  and  between  that  disease,  earthquakes,  and  typhoons,  the 
inhabitants  have  had  within  past  years  what  is  called  a  "  rough 
time."  In  the  mean  while,  the  Vincennes'  officers  and  crew 
enjoyed  the  delightful  walks  within  the  limits  of  Macao,  and 
some  of  us  never  tired  of  visiting  the  grave  of  Camoens,  a 
Portuguese,  and  one  of  the  great  poets  whose  names  will  live  as 
long  as  man  exists.  The  situation  and  trees  make  it  a  charming 
spot.  "  The  Lusiad"  is  a  choice  poem,  recording  a  romance  of 
travel,  that  can  hardly  fail  to  be  read  in  the  future. 

The  wilds  of  Africa  present  a  field  for  any  amount  of  human 
endeavor,  and  so  do  the  central  portions  of  Australia,  but  the 
Polar  regions  will  remain  untrodden,  and  the  fable  of  voyages 


DINING    WITH   THE   GOVERNOR.  135 

has  passed  from  the  existence  of  lines  of  travel  in  all  habitable 
interesting  regions.  Indeed,  the  world,  that  we  in  our  infancy 
regard  as  so  large,  is,  after  all,  quite  insignificant  in  mass  as 
compared  to  other  planets,  and  not  at  all  large,  if  we  regard 
only  the  locomotive  power  of  man.  Even  in  a  sailing-vessel, 
resting  in  port  here  and  there,  and  tarrying  for  weeks  as  already 
stated,  I  was  in  six  months  within  less  than  one  hundred  miles 
of  an  antipode. 

On  the  25th  of  May  the  Columbus  and  the  Yincennes  left 
for  Northern  China  and  the  coast  of  Japan.  Even  so  late  in 
the  season,  we  were  eight  days  making  a  distance  of  only  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles :  for  although  we  had  good  breezes, 
they  were  still  mostly  from  the  northeast.  As  we  approached 
the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Amoy,  an  endeavor  was  made  to 
draw  a  round  shot,  to  fire  a  blank  cartridge,  the  usual  signal 
for  a  pilot :  the  shot  had  jammed,  and  an  order  was  given  to 
fire  the  gun.  This  was  the  first  shot  since  the  sailing  of  the 
vessel  from  New  York,  just  one  year  before. 

The  harbor  of  Amoy  is  excellent,  and  at  that  time  had  not 
been  visited  by  any  of  our  vessels-of-war ;  the  traffic  was  in- 
considerable, the  tea-trade  had  not  found  its  way  to  that  port, 
and  sugar,  wood,  and  camphor  from  Formosa  formed  the 
principal  exports.  Soon  after  we  anchored,  men  came  on  board 
with  large  supplies  of  embroidered  silk  garments  more  or  less 
worn.  It  did  not  occur  to  me  what  a  ready  means  that  was  to 
spread  small-pox,  scarlet  fever,  and  other  infectious  diseases ; 
nevertheless,  although  the  same  traffic  has  continued  from  year 
to  year,  I  have  no  knowledge  of  disease  having  been  contracted 
thereby.  The  city  had  perhaps  half  a  million  of  inhabitants ; 
the  streets  are  narrow,  and  the  houses  usually  only  one  story  in 
height.  The  smells  are  peculiar,  and  I  thought  distinctive,  in 
every  street,  and  all  of  them  vile. 

The  Touti,  or  governor  of  the  province,  which  contained 
twenty  millions  of  inhabitants,  dined  with  the  captain,  and 
in  turn  the  officers  of  the  ship  were  invited  to  dine  with  him. 
Sedan-chairs  were  sent  to  the  landing  for  us.  When  the  Touti 
came  on  board  he  was  accompanied  by  an  officer  and  two 
servants,  who  stood  behind  and  waited  upon  them  at  dinner. 


136  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Indeed,  in  China  and  Japan,  if  a  gentleman  is  invited  to  dine, 
Lis  servant  always  goes  along,  to  wait  upon  him.  None  of  the 
Asiatics  use  handkerchiefs,  but  they  have  a  far  nicer  method  of 
disposing  of  what  comes  from  an  influenza  than  using  a  hand- 
kerchief and  then  putting  it  in  the  pocket.  When  required,  a 
nice  piece  of  paper  is  called  for,  and  after  use  is  handed  to  the 
servant,  who  folds  it  up  carefully  and  puts  it  in  his  pocket  until 
a  favorable  opportunity  occurs  for  throwing  it  into  a  receptacle. 
The  Touti  was  a  large,  strong  man,  with  Tartar  face  and  manner ; 
he  was  much  interested  in  what  he  saw  around  him,  and,  being 
shown  my  rifle,  examined  it  attentively  and  asked  me  if  I  could 
use  a  bow.  I  replied,  somewhat  to  the  captain's  amusement, 
that  I  could  draw  a  very  long  one.  At  that  time  the  larger  part 
of  the  Chinese  army  were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows. 

After  remaining  nine  days,  we  left  for  the  Chusan  Islands, 
which  lie  off  the  coast  of  Ningpo,  and  on  the  18th  of  June 
anchored  under  the  lee  of  an  island  known  as  Buffalo's  Nose. 
The  Chusan  Islands  are  very  beautiful,  terraced  and  cultivated 
to  the  summits.  They  are  several  hundred  feet  in  height,  and 
their  being  terraced,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  indicates  that  the 
slopes  are  abrupt.  This  anchorage  is  one  hundred  miles  south 
of  the  entrance  to  the  Woosung  River,  leading  to  Shanghai, 
which  will  not  admit  a  vessel  of  the  draught  of  the  Columbus, 
and  is  shoal  so  far  out  as  to  be  dangerous  of  approach  unless 
care  is  taken  in  entering  to  keep  on  the  proper  bearing  from 
Gutzlaff  Island,  so  long  as  it  can  be  seen.  The  tides  are  strong, 
and,  sweeping  across  the  course  of  the  vessel,  are  apt  to  set  her 
on  a  mud-flat  next  the  land,  or  on  a  sand-bank  on  the  other  side, 
with  very  deep  water  close  to  it.  By  attaching  a  log-line  to  a 
lead,  the  rate  of  sailing  over  the  bottom  is  easily  ascertained, 
and  also  the  approximate  course,  as  the  line  is  found  to  trend  to 
the  one  quarter  or  the  other ;  but  in  strong  currents  there  is 
always  danger,  unless  accurate  bearings  are  obtainable. 

Commodore  Biddle  took  passage  on  board  of  the  Yincennes, 
and  we  left  for  Woosung,  twelve  miles  below  Shanghai.  After 
getting  safely  into  the  river  without  a  pilot,  we  got  one  just 
without  the  narrow  entrance  near  the  land,  who  at.  once  put  us 
ashore  in  a  sharp  bend  and  a  strong  current,  so  the  bows  of  the 


NAGASAKI.  137 

vessel  were  run  pretty  well  up  on  a  sand-bank,  with  a  falling 
tide,  and  there  we  lay  for  twenty-four  hours.  We  had  for 
several  days  and  nights  the  hottest  weather  I  have  any  recollec- 
tion of, — over  one  hundred  degrees  throughout  the  nights.  When 
we  got  off,  we  anchored  off  the  village  of  Woosung,  remaining 
there  until  the  return  of  the  commodore,  when  we  left  to  join 
the  Columbus  :  this  we  did  on  the  7th  of  July,  and  both  vessels 
kept  together  until  we  entered  the  bay  of  Yeddo  on  the  20th 
of  July  and  anchored  twenty  miles  below  the  present  site  of 
Yokohama. 

As  soon  as  we  got  away  from  the  land,  we  had  a  delightful 
change  in  temperature,  and  good  weather.  We  passed  through 
a  line  of  islands  known  as  the  Pinnacles,  some  of  them  quite 
high.  Soon  after,  we  sighted  the  southwestern  islands  of 
Japan,  and  saw  the  coast  until  we  entered  Yeddo  Bay.  The 
day  before,  when  off  Green  Island  and  not  far  from  the  harbor 
of  Simoda,  we  had  a  superb  view  of  that  pride  of  Japan,  the 
mountain  of  Fusiyama.  On  the  following  morning,  when 
within  the  large  island  of  Oosima,  that  lies  south  of  the  entrance 
to  the  bay,  we  were  met  by  several  boats  that  endeavored  to 
divert  us  from  the  entrance  into  a  deep  indentation  lying  to  the 
westward,  but  the  vessels  stood  on,  despite  our  self-constituted 
guides.  A  few  miles  farther  up,  when  well  within  the  lower 
bay,  the  boats  amounted  to  hundreds.  Later  on  we  had  on 
board  a  large  number  of  the  officers,  who  had  very  perturbed 
countenances,  until  at  length  we  anchored  in  something  of  a 
bight,  three  miles  from  the  western  shore-line,  with  a  beautiful 
wooded  promontory  nearly  due  north  of  us. 

When  at  Batavia,  the  commodore  apprised  the  Japanese  of 
our  intended  visit  by  a  message  to  Nagasaki,  within  which  port 
a  Dutch  trading-station,  De-Sima,  had  existed  for  a  century  or 
more,  to  which  were  sent  two  ships  yearly,  delivering  whatever 
the  Japanese  had  previously  requested,  and  receiving  in  exchange 
pretty  much  what  they  chose  to  give,  no  doubt  guided  in  some 
degree  by  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  Dutch  traders.  The  lac- 
quers of  Japan  have  no  equals,  and  other  of  their  manufactures 
commanded  high  prices  in  Europe,  sufficiently  so  to  make  the 
traffic  profitable.     A  good  deal  was  written  in  former  times, 


138  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

whether  with  truth  or  not,  of  the  humiliating  terms  and  com- 
pliances that  had  to  be  observed  yearly, — among  others,  tram- 
pling on  the  cross,  and  crawling  in  on  all-fours,  knocking  their 
heads  on  the  floor  from  time  to  time,  in  acknowledgment  of  their 
abasement  and  of  the  grandeur  of  the  Daimio,  who  sat  on  a 
throne  or  dais  to  receive  this  honor.  Doubtless  the  terms  under 
which  this  trading-post  was  held  were  shameful,  but  to  what 
extent  can  hardly  be  accurately  stated. 

"When  the  Japanese  first  came  on  board  of  the  Vincennes, 
some  of  the  zealous,  in  the  line  of  their  special  duties,  stuck 
poles  upon  the  bows,  perhaps  to  indicate  possession  ;  but  the 
officer  in  charge  of  the  forecastle,  Lieutenant  Charles  F.  Mcin- 
tosh, indignantly  threw  them  overboard.  The  boats  increased 
in  numbers  for  several  days,  until  not  less  than  fifteen  hundred 
formed  a  cordon  around  the  vessels.  They  varied  in  size,  and 
carried  from  ten  to  twenty-five  men. 

As  is  well  known  to  travellers,  the  Japanese  do  not  pull  oars, 
like  Europeans,  but  alongside  of  their  boats  are  flexible  sculls. 
When  manned  for  sculling,  the  bodies  of  the  men  are  bent 
forward  nearly  horizontally,  and,  swaying  from  side  to  side, 
they  propel  their  boats  with  more  speed  than  could  be  got  out 
of  them  by  oars.  Their  boats  and  sails,  for  convenience  and 
utility,  will  not  compare  with  those  of  the  Chinese ;  we  saw 
several  junks  in  the  distance,  with  lug  sails,  that  did  not 
attempt  to  "tack,"  and  in  ordinary  weather  always  "wore;" 
that  is  to  say,  in  bringing  the  wind  from  one  side  to  the  other, 
the  helm  was  put  up,  instead  of  down,  as  in  tacking. 

After  a  day  or  so,  a  number  of  the  officers  of  the  different 
boats  spent  hours  on  board  of  the  vessels,  and  artists  came  on 
board,  who  made  drawings  of  everything  that  wras  to  be  seen, 
and  very  good  drawings,  too,  for  they  are  experts  in  that  art. 
There  were  several  men  among  them  who  understood  Dutch, 
who  acted  in  the  capacity  of  interpreters.  Between  them  and 
some  Dutch  sailors  and  my  Chinese  servant,  an  interpreter  and 
myself  soon  understood  each  other  very  well.  I  had  read, 
months  before,  that  the  Japanese  were  not  averse  to  taking 
cherry  bounce,  and  had  supplied  myself  liberally  in  China  for 
the  occasion.     Our  interpreter  was  a  very  intelligent  man  of 


JAPANESE   OFFICIALS    VISIT  THE   COLUMBUS.        139 

thirty,  who  had  learned  Dutch  in  the  trading  establishment  of 
De  Sima,  within  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki. 

We  had  delightful  weather  after  getting  clear  of  the  Chinese 
coast,  and  our  crew  began  to  mend  in  physique  greatly.  At 
the  request  of  the  commodore,  both  vessels  were  well  supplied 
with  water,  vegetables,  and  fowls.  At  that  time  the  Japanese 
did  not  eat  the  buffalo,  such  as  the  Chinese  have,  although  they 
had  them  in  limited  numbers.  It  seemed  to  me  that  their  fowls 
were  unusually  tough.  Those  of  China  are  very  good,  the 
capons  especially. 

A  week  after  we  had  been  at  anchor,  as  the  sun  went  down,  a 
heavy  squall  was  brewing,  and  when  night  fell  upon  us  it  blew 
violently,  forcing  the  boats  to  seek  shelter  under  the  headlands. 
Driven  before  the  wind,  their  variegated  lanterns  crossing  each 
other,  they  presented  a  very  beautiful  sight.  We  let  go  other  an- 
chors, and  sent  down  our  top-gallant  masts.  The  following  day 
putting  things  to  rights,  by  heaving  up  the  anchors  we  had  let 
go  and  sending  up  our  spars,  interested  our  Japanese  visitors 
greatly.     By  ten  o'clock  the  cordon  of  boats  was  again  around  us. 

The  object  of  our  visit  was  to  inform  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment that  our  government  would  be  pleased  to  hold  commercial 
relations,  should  it  feel  so  disposed,  and  the  communication  was 
intrusted  to  their  senior  officer  on  the  first  day  of  our  arrival, 
that  an  important  paper  had  been  brought  and  would  be 
delivered  to  any  high  official  who  might  be  charged  to  receive 
it.  There  was  at  that  time  a  dual  government  in  Japan  :  one 
branch  was  regarded  as  the  spiritual  and  ethical,  at  Osaka,  on 
the  inland  sea  of  Japan,  and  the  other  was  that  of  the  Tycoon,  at 
Yeddo,  that  managed  the  whole  practical  matter  of  government. 

It  was  arranged  that  eight  or  ten  days  after  our  arrival  some 
high  functionaries  of  Japan  would  come  down  the  bay  to  visit 
the  commodore  and  deliver  an  answer ;  the  question  was  dis- 
cussed, whether  they  should  come  on  board  of  the  Columbus,  or 
whether  the  commodore  should  visit  their  vessel.  The  commo- 
dore said  the  Columbus,  being  much  the  larger  vessel,  would  be 
the  better  place  for  the  meeting.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  the 
day  and  hour  named;  and  on  that  morning,  several  junks, 
bearing  the  Japanese  officials,  came  down,  and  anchored  a  mile 


140  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

or  more  from  our  vessels.  Their  curious  rig  and  appearance 
aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  commodore,  who,  disregarding  the 
previous  arrangement,  thought  a  visit  to  them  proper.  His 
barge  was  lowered  and  pulled  alongside  of  the  vessel  pointed 
out  as  bearing  the  highest  official.  Not  knowing  his  rank,  and 
properly  regarding  the  arrangement  agreed  upon,  on  getting 
alongside  and  endeavoring  to  go  on  board  he  was  thrust  back 
into  his  boat,  and  a  Japanese  official  at  the  gangway  laid  his 
hand  upon  his  sword,  with  a  plain  intimation  of  its  use  should 
further  effort  be  made  to  come  on  board.  This  nettled  the 
commodore  greatly,  who  had  to  go  back  to  the  Columbus  and 
await  the  programme  already  agreed  upon. 

The  Japanese  officials  on  board  of  the  Columbus  were  much 
discomposed  at  this  mishap.  It  was  explained  fully  that  the 
officials  had  no  idea  of  the  rank  of  their  intended  visitor ;  but 
it  was  said  that  the  commodore  waxed  wroth,  and,  on  the 
officials  coming  on  board,  complained  of  the  rudeness  shown 
him,  adding  that  they  could  very  well  see  that  he  had  "  sufficient 
force  to  blow  them  out  of  the  water."  The  reply  was,  that 
they  had  no  idea  who  their  visitor  was ;  had  they  known,  he 
would  have  had  a  courteous  reception ;  his  visit  to  them  was 
not  proposed  in  advance,  and  was  unexpected.  They  acknowl- 
edged that  he  had  the  force,  if  employed,  to  destroy  them,  but 
said  that  such  an  act  could  have  no  justification.  Presents  were 
offered  him,  which  he  indignantly  declined,  and  he  was  asked 
not  to  communicate  the  occurrence  to  his  government,  which  he 
declined  to  promise.  As  he  was  an  able  man  and  reasonable, 
he  doubtless  made  such  official  report  as  set  forth  the  facts. 
When,  eight  years  later,  Commodore  Perry  appeared  and  made 
no  demands  of  apology  or  statement  of  intended  injury,  it  was 
quite  apparent  to  the  Japanese  that  we  had  no  desire  to  foment 
a  misunderstanding,  and  perhaps  on  that  account  the  govern- 
ment was  more  disposed  to  listen  to  what  Commodore  Perry 
had  to  say  and  to  look  at,  and  accept  what  he  had  to  present. 
This  expedition,  indeed,  had  the  effect  of  entirely  changing  the 
relation  of  the  Asiatic  nations  to  Europeans  and  ourselves, 
which  otherwise  might  have  remained  isolated. 

The  daily  intercourse  between  myself  and   the   interpreter 


THE   VESSELS    WEIGH  ANCHOR.  141 

who  was  assigned  to  the  Vincennes  established  quite  au  amiable 
relation,  aided,  perhaps,  by  the  cherry  bounce.  A  day  or  so 
before  we  left,  I  told  him  how  much  gratified  we  all  were  in 
making  their  acquaintance  and  seeing  their  beautiful  bay  and 
looking  at  the  country  from  the  vessels :  we  found,  too,  a  wide 
difference  of  climate  between  China  and  Japan ;  our  sick  had 
become  convalescent,  and,  in  view  of  our  kind  reception,  I  had 
little  doubt  that  we  would  visit  their  coast  frequently.  This 
compliment,  with  the  assertion  that  we  would  doubtless  come 
again,  greatly  disconcerted  him. 

After  the  official  rendition  of  the  papers  referred  to,  and  an 
answer  returned  from  some  officer  with  duties  analogous  to 
those  of  our  Secretary  of  State,  the  commodore  received  a  letter, 
probably  rendered  into  Dutch,  stating  that  an  answer  had  been 
given  to  the  letter  from  his  government.  They  wished  no 
intercourse  with  us ;  they  had  furnished  us  with  supplies,  for 
which  they  declined  to  receive  compensation,  and  they  hoped 
that  we  would  now  return  to  the  country  whence  we  came  and 
visit  them  no  more. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Vessels  weigh  Anchor  and  are  taken  in  tow — The  Columbus  and  Vin- 
cennes part,  never  to  meet  again — The  Ladrones — Apra  Harbor — Island  of 
Guam— Flying-Fish  and  Sea-Fowl—Pilot-Fish — Coral  and  Cocoa-nut— No 
Snakes  or  Scorpions — Description  of  the  Inhabitants — A  Hide  to  Agafia — 
Keceived  by  the  Governor  and  invited  to  a  Dinner — Mr.  Kobinson,  an  Old 
British  Navy  Officer,  sings,  and  is  in  Disgrace — Bread-Fruit — School- 
Houses — Koberts,  the  Pilot,  proposes  to  leave  the  Island,  but  is  persuaded 
to  remain — Bemarks  on  the  Island,  its  History,  Inhabitants,  etc. — Sail  for 
Hong-Kong — Anchor  in  Blenheim  Beach— Sail  for  Raja  Bassa  in  Suma- 
tra— A  Fishing  Town — Curiosity  of  the  Inhabitants — Description  of  the 
Island  and  People— Cape  Town — Leaving  Cape  Town  the  Writer  has  a 
"Windfall" — Arrive  at  the  Navy- Yard— General  Hamer— Leave  of  Ab- 
sence—Calls on  the  President— Mr.  Mason,  Secretary  of  the  Navy— An  Ap- 
pointment in  the  Navy  for  General  Hamer's  Son — Ordered  on  Coast  Survey 
Duty. 

On  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  July,  both  vessels  weighed 
anchor,  the  light  wind  died  away  and  we  were  taken  in  tow  by 
the  boats.     In  relation  to  this,  the  log-book  of  the  Columbus 


142  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

says,  "  From  8  to  meridian,  light  breezes  from  Nd.  and  Ed.  and 
pleasant.  Standing  out  of  Yeddo  Bay  in  tow  of  Japanese  boats. 
At  10  the  wind  hauled  to  the  Sd.  and  Wd.  ;  cast  off  the  boats 
and  braced  up.  At  meridian,  beating  out  of  Yeddo  Bay."  A 
literary  friend  thought  a  log-book  would  be  a  mine  of  wealth, 
but  this  is  all  it  tells  of  one  of  the  most  picturesque  sights  I 
have  ever  witnessed.  No  fewer  than  one  thousand  boats,  scull- 
ing, made  fast  in  three  lines,  ahead  of  the  Columbus,  gave  her 
a  speed  of  some  three  miles  an  hour  ;  and  five  hundred  boats  of 
the  same  fleet  towed  the  Yincennes,  in  two  lines  ahead.  The 
pennons  and  lanterns  of  the  boats  were  quite  attractive,  and  the 
clothing  of  the  soldiers,  their  officers,  and  those  who  sculled, 
was  striking.  The  officers  wore  a  kind  of  beaded  coat  of  mail ; 
perhaps  it  would  have  been  effective  against  their  weapons,  but 
it  would  have  been  of  no  avail  against  European  weapons  of 
that  day.  Their  dress,  in  general  effect,  was  that  of  Europeans 
three  centuries  ago.  Their  bearing  was  that  of  gentlemen,  and 
I  can  say,  taking  the  world  over,  I  know  of  no  more  polite  men 
than  those  of  Japan,  and  no  people  of  more  admirable  qualities. 
This  opinion  is  expressed  after  making  a  second  visit  to  Japan, 
more  than  twenty  years  later. 

On  reaching  the  open  waters,  the  Columbus  went  one  way, 
the  Yincennes  another,  never  to  meet  again.  Our  course  was  to 
the  southern  one  of  what  are  known  as  the  Ladrone  Islands, 
forming  a  part  of  the  volcanic  split  of  the  earth  extending  from 
the  Bonin  Islands  nearly  north  and  south.  The  distance  to  the 
island  of  Guam  was  about  twelve  hundred  miles,  but  it  took 
nearly  a  month  to  make  the  voyage,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
southwest  monsoons  and  calms  prevailed  over  the  region  to  the 
westward,  just  at  that  particular  season  of  about  six  weeks. 
We  had  calms  and  heavy  squalls,  and  the  voyage  was  painfully 
slow. 

Apra  harbor,  on  the  southwest  side  of  Guam,  is  one  of  the 
most  charming  I  have  ever  seen,  and  the  island  itself  is  a  tropical 
gem.  Here  we  passed  a  delightful  month  to  recruit  the  crew 
and  to  keep  away  from  the  coast  of  China  until  the  northeast 
monsoon  set  in.  The  island  is  much  inferior  in  size  to  Tinian 
and  Saypan,  which  lie  about  one  hundred  miles  to  the  north, 


PILOT-FISH.  143 

with  an  intervening  island  ;  the  northern  islands  have  no  har- 
bors,— only  an  anchorage  under  their  lee.  Had  our  visit  been 
during  any  other  part  of  the  year,  our  voyage  would  have  taken 
little  more  than  one  week.  We  started  off  with  a  fresh  north- 
east wind,  which  left  us  just  where  the  trades  usually  blow. 
The  charts  of  that  sea  were  then  very  imperfect,  and  even  now 
continue  so.  The  longitudes  are  only  approximately  correct; 
one  bright  forenoon  we  saw  at  a  distance  a  great  volcanic  rock, 
several  thousand  feet  in  height,  when  nothing  was  laid  down 
within  one  hundred  miles  of  it. 

After  we  got  south  of  the  Bonin  Islands,  that  lay  east  of 
us,  the  sea  was  pretty  well  covered  with  "scoria,"  or  what  is 
usually  called  "  pumice-stone ;"  it  was  always  ranged  in  win- 
nows, in  the  direction  from  which  the  wind  blew,  as  is  the  case 
with  sea-weed.  Hovering  over  these  waters  were  vast  numbers 
of  gulls  and  other  sea-fowl ;  the  water  was  alive  with  flying- 
fish,  as  well  as  with  countless  bonitas,  and  other  fishes  that  prey 
upon  the  flying-fish.  When  a  boy,  I  had  read  in  iEsop's  Fables 
of  a  flying-fish ;  in  the  air  it  was  persecuted  by  birds,  and  in 
the  water  by  fishes;  and  this  was  actually  seen,  day  by  day. 
They  would  rise  in  schools  from  the  sea,  and  the  gulls  would 
swoop  down  upon  them ;  and  in  the  clear  waters  could  be  seen, 
following  their  line  of  flight,  bonitas  that  would  occasionally 
rise  to  the  surface.  The  scoria  was  doubtless  from  some  sub- 
marine volcano,  and,  floating  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  it  was 
covered  by  shell-fish,  such  as  barnacles,  until,  weighted  down,  it 
would  sink,  and  supply  food  for  fishes  that  in  turn  would  be 
preyed  upon  by  others. 

When  becalmed,  or  nearly  so,  we  would  see  around  the  rud- 
der-post what  are  known  to  sailors  as  "  pilot-fish,"  as  they  are 
frequently  seen  accompanying  sharks,  and  no  doubt  render  them 
a  service  in  eating  off  the  barnacles  usually  found  on  them. 
There  was  a  very  curious  fish,  known  to  naturalists,  but  I  have 
seen  only  one,  and  that  was  on  this  voyage :  it  has  a  flat  head ; 
by  putting  the  back  of  it  against  another  fish,  and  exhausting 
an  air-sac  on  it,  it  is  held  fast  through  forming  a  vacuum ;  this 
can  be  done  on  any  fish,  or  it  can  attach  itself  to  a  vessel,  and  it 
is  thus  carried  alon^.     On  examination  it  is  found  that  this  fish 


144  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

belongs  to  the  class  Echeneididce,  of  which  there  are  five  species, 
popularly  known  as  "  suckers,"  from  the  first  dorsal  being  trans- 
formed into  a  sucking  and  exhausting  organ.  It  is  regarded  by 
naturalists  as  among  the  most  remarkable  of  fishes. 

Another  small  fish  that  we  saw  is  known  to  whalers  as  the 
"  trigger-fish."  It  has  teeth  and  a  jaw  like  the  sheep's-head, 
and  is  also  striped.  When  it  raises  its  dorsal,  in  order  to  push 
it  down  the  second  projecting  point  may  be  borne  down  too, 
and  the  front  one  will  then  follow;  no  amount  of  force  ap- 
plied can  get  the  first  one  down  unless  acted  upon  in  this 
manner. 

On  arriving  at  Apra,  a  beautiful  small  harbor  on  the  west 
side  of  the  island,  we  were  recompensed  for  our  long  and  pain- 
ful voyage.  A  pilot  came  out  and  took  us  in  between  reefs  that 
are  nearly  awash,  and  the  break  of  the  sea  over  them  is  con- 
stant. This  gives  a  freshness  to  the  atmosphere  that  is  exhila- 
rating, and  the  roar  of  the  breakers  is  gifted  with  a  majestic 
tone  that  never  wearies.  Especially  is  this  noticeable  in  the 
night ;  the  sound,  although  varying  in  cadence,  is  almost  con- 
stant, and  yet  not  monotonous. 

The  clearness  of  the  water  in  the  harbor  enabled  us  to  see  the 
anchor  dimly  at  a  depth  of  nearly  one  hundred  feet.  To  do 
this,  it  was  necessary  to  follow  the  chain  by  sight  to  the  bottom. 
At  depths  of  more  than  fifty  feet  were  numbers  of  fishes,  some 
of  them  weighing  twenty  pounds  or  more,  and  chary  enough  to 
"  touch  not,  taste  not"  the  alluring  bait.  Passing  in  a  boat  from 
the  anchorage  to  the  shore,  a  distance  of  more  than  half  a  mile, 
the  latter  part  was  over  shoal  ground,  and  coral-patches  that 
seemed  to  rise  so  near  the  surface  as  to  cause  an  apprehension  of 
striking  where  the  water  was  more  than  a  fathom  deep  ;  the  bot- 
tom, all  variegated  with  colors,  bright  as  a  varnished  picture, 
was  plainly  in  view. 

On  the  beach  were  groves  of  that  munificent  tree  the  cocoa- 
nut,  having  the  qualities  that  would  have  been  sung  in  "  Hia- 
watha" instead  of  maize,  had  the  scene  been  laid  in  the  tropics. 
There  they  were  in  stately  grandeur,  towering  to  a  height  of 
seventy  feet,  and,  what  surprised  us,  and  what  I  have  seen  no- 
where else,  they  were  notched  into  a  kind  of  ladder,  to  allow 


A   RIDE   TO  AG  AN  A.  -[45 

an  easy  ascent.  Stirred  by  the  sea-breeze,  they  gave  a  note  of 
welcome  to  seafaring  men.  Near  by  were  the  comfortable  huts 
of  the  "natives,"  let  us  call  them,  and  around  their  abodes 
were  orange-,  lime-,  and  bread-fruit-trees,  bananas  and  plantains, 
with  patches  of  sweet  potatoes,  yams,  Indian  corn,  and  what- 
ever was  regarded  by  the  inhabitants  as  desirable.  Nowhere  in 
the  wide  world  has  Nature  been  more  lavish  with  her  treasures 
to  man  than  on  the  island  of  Guam,  or  more  earnest  in  sparing 
him  pain  and  injury.  Although  it  is  not  asserted  or  supposed 
that  St.  Patrick  ever  visited  the  island,  there  are  no  snakes,  and 
no  tarantulas  or  scorpions.  There  are  iguanas,  great  long  lizards, 
bearing  a  frightful  crest  above  their  dorsal,  which  they  erect  on 
the  slightest  pretext,  to  frighten  people ;  yet  the  child  grows  up 
near  them,  and  makes  faces  at  their  vain  pretence  to  intimidate. 
Shams  are  soon  known,  and  when  it  is  a  question  of  war  the 
difference  between  crows  and  pigeons  becomes  apparent  despite 
attempted  bullying.  It  is  said  that  they  make  a  good  dish ;  but 
I  have  never  tried  them,  not  from  any  sentiment,  but  because 
they  have  never  been  offered  to  me  as  food. 

When  we  went  on  shore,  crowds  of  the  inhabitants  came  to 
welcome  us,  for  men-of-war  seldom  entered  their  harbor.  First 
of  all,  the  fair  sex  stood  prominent,  clothed  in  a  loose  white 
jacket  that  fell  below  the  waist,  a  skirt  of  gay  colors  and  broad 
stripes,  falling  near  to  the  ankles,  then  a  sandal,  leaving  the  foot 
uncovered ;  a  broad  sombrero,  covering  the  most  luxuriant  suit 
of  hair,  perfumed  with  cocoa-nut  oil,  and  framing  what,  as  the 
bonne  bouche,  I  leave  to  the  last, — a  pleasant  smile  and  an 
amiable  face  !  Glorious  isle  in  the  middle  of  the  broad  Pacific  ! 
where  the  ordinary  tourist  has  never  been,  and  where  Nature 
invites  man  to  sling  his  hammock  and  be  at  peace.  The  capital 
is  Agafia,  six  miles  away,  following  up  the  western  beach,  and 
there  the  governor  lived,  in  the  "  palace,"  surrounded  by  all 
the  dignitaries  save  the  pilot,  who  lived  on  the  shore  by  the 
harbor  of  Apra. 

A  ride  to  Agaila  from  the  anchorage  I  recall  as  one  of  the 
most  charming  I  have  ever  made.  It  was  not  alone ;  the  cap- 
tain of  the  vessel  kindly  invited  several  of  the  officers  to  pay 
an  official  visit  with  him  to  the  governor,  and  horses  were  sent 

10 


146  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

for  the  party.  In  the  afternoon  we  mounted,  swords  and  all ; 
malicious,  or  facetious,  people  would  have  called  us  "  horse- 
marines,"  notwithstanding  several  of  our  party  had  ridden  from 
boyhood :  people  must  have  their  little  jokes,  and  they  do  no 
harm.  When  we  started,  all  the  men,  women,  and  children 
living  near  the  harbor  assembled  to  see  us  off,  and  as  we  went 
along  a  line  of  road  as  perfect  as  it  could  be,  under  the  cocoa- 
nut-trees,  stirred  by  the  sea-breeze,  for  we  were  only  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  sea-beach,  we  were  all  "  lleno  de  contento."  A 
courier  had  preceded  us,  for  as  we  passed  along  we  had  a  con- 
tinued ovation.  At  a  distance  of  a  mile  apart,  more  or  less, 
were  neat  bamboo  villages,  and  in  each  an  assembled  crowd 
greeted  us ;  the  nimble  men  would  scramble  up  a  cocoa-nut-tree 
and  throw  down  half  a  dozen  or  more  nuts,  that  would  have 
been  fatal  had  one  struck  the  head  of  those  below ;  others  would 
deftly  cut  off  the  end  of  the  nut  with  a  strong  heavy  knife, 
which  was  a  part  of  the  outfit  of  every  household.  Then  in 
some  cases  the  whole  nut  would  be  handed  us ;  at  other  times 
the  liquid  would  be  poured  into  a  tumbler  and  offered,  so  that 
we  could  see  what  we  were  drinking.  We  arrived  at  the  end 
of  our  journey  of  six  miles  in  the  best  possible  condition,  and 
without  being  a  "  prohibitionist,"  I  recommend  for  the  consider- 
ation of  the  getters-up  of  grand  banquets  the  substitution,  in 
part  at  least,  of  the  milk  in  the  cocoa-nut,  instead  of  champagne, 
the  soundness  of  which  is  not  assured.  I  have  never  heard 
uttered  a  suspicion  as  to  the  unsoundness  of  the  milk  in  a  cocoa- 
nut,  so  long  at  least  as  it  has  remained  in  the  shell  or  was 
quaffed  from  the  ample  cup. 

Arriving  at  the  palace,  the  governor  received  us  with  true 
Spanish  dignity ;  he  was  a  captain  in  the  Spanish  infantry,  on 
service  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  had  been  detailed,  as  was 
usual,  for  a  four  years'  command  of  a  sergeant's  guard,  the 
garrison  given  the  Ladrone  Islands,  the  whole  force  being  placed 
on  the  island  of  Guam.  He  was  a  fine-looking  man,  about 
forty  years  of  age,  thin  and  swarthy,  just  such  a  picture  as  you 
will  find  attached  to  almost  any  of  the  Spanish  adventurers  in 
America.  He  had  invited  one  or  two  of  his  officials  to  dine 
with  him  in  honor  of  the  occasion. 


MR.  ROBINSON,  AN  OLD  BRITISH  NAVY  OFFICER.     147 

The  palace  was  a  building  of  two  stories,  probably  two 
hundred  feet  long  by  fifty  feet  wide,  built  of  the  coral  rock 
lining  the  coast,  whitewashed  or  yellow-washed,  and  covered 
with  red  tiles,  no  doubt  brought  from  Acapulco  more  than  a 
century  before.  Just  one  hundred  and  four  years  prior  to  our 
visit,  Anson,  to  get  rid  of  the  scurvy,  had  anchored  under  the 
lee  of  the  islands  of  Tinian  and  Saypan,  one  hundred  miles  to 
the  northward.  The  men  of  the  Centurion  and  the  smaller 
vessel  accompanying  were  mostly  on  shore  recruiting,  when  a 
heavy  cyclone  swept  the  vessels  off  soundings  into  deep  water, 
and  it  was  days  before  the  small  force  on  board  could  heave  up 
the  heavy  hempen  cables  and  anchors  and  beat  back  to  their 
anchorage.  Anson  probably  contented  himself  with  the  north- 
ern islands,  as  they  afforded  facilities  for  obtaining  fresh  sup- 
plies and  had  no  fortifications  or  troops  to  defend  them,  as  had 
Guam. 

Our  dinner  was  very  pleasant,  and  when  over,  the  governor, 
our  captain,  and  myself  were  sitting  quietly,  when  we  heard 
singing  in  another  apartment,  and  soon  Mr.  Robinson,  who  had 
been  an  old  British  navy  officer  in  his  younger  years,  stalked 
out,  sword  in  hand,  flanked  by  some  of  our  officers,  and  singing 
vociferously,  "Scots  wha  hae  wi'  Wallace  bled,"  advanced  to 
give  the  governor  and  his  guests  an  impromptu  entertainment. 
It  much  disconcerted  the  governor,  who  was  grave  and  digni- 
fied ;  but  he  bore  it  like  a  gentleman,  and  allowed  the  concert 
to  proceed. 

We  understood,  after  we  had  left  the  palace  the  following  day, 
that  Robinson  was  in  disgrace.  I  suppose  "  crooking  his  elbow" 
was  a  chronic  complaint  and  had  sent  him  out  of  the  navy  and 
left  him  stranded  on  this  charming  island,  where  he  had  been 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  possibly  a  very  useful  man  to  the 
successive  governors  in  transactions  with  the  whalers.  Apra 
was  their  favorite  resort  to  obtain  supplies,  thirty  or  more  visit- 
ing the  port  yearly,  and  leaving  numbers  of  "scrimshawed" 
whale  teeth  and  other  products  of  their  industry  with  the  in- 
habitants, in  exchange  for  vegetables  and  fruits.  This  inter- 
course had  given  to  the  dwellers  near  the  harbor  a  fair  use  of 
our  vocabulary ;  specially  well  did  the  pilot's  several  daughters, 


148         THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

and  those  of  our  navy  compatriot  of  former  days,  speak  English. 
We  enjoyed  our  visit  to  the  palace  very  much,  saw  its  beautiful 
surroundings,  and  returned  content  with  all  the  world. 

Bread-fruit-trees  of  two  varieties  flourish  here ;  the  fruit  can 
be  plucked  fresh  for  eight  months  of  the  year ;  when  eaten  as 
bread,  one  may  be  sure  it  has  no  alum  in  it,  nor  even  baking- 
powder,  "  decided  by  chemists  to  be  absolutely  harmless,  and 
the  best,  containing  only  ingredients  that  are  obliged  to  promote 
the  health. "  When  quite  a  youngster,  in  New  England  I  had, 
so  far  as  I  know,  my  first  taste  of  saleratus,  and  perhaps  might 
not  have  made  the  discovery  had  I  not  observed  yellow  blotches 
in  the  bread,  which  caused  me  to  make  inquiry. 

Don't  suppose  that  the  bread-fruit  has  no  "  rising"  in  it ;  it 
has  "just  the  thing,"  and  the  natives  know  all  about  it.  When 
taken  from  the  tree,  on  maturity,  it  is  kept  until  the  white  color 
of  the  internal  part  is  assuming  a  yellowish  hue ;  that  means  a 
fermentation.  To  cook  it,  a  prepared  trench  is  made  use  of,  say 
a  foot  deep  and  a  foot  broad.  Brushwood  and  small  stones 
are  provided ;  they  are  put  in  the  trench,  the  stones  on  top,  and 
a  fire  is  made  of  the  brushwood ;  when  the  brushwood  is 
burned  to  ashes,  the  ashes  and  small  stones  are  scooped  out  with 
a  broad  hoe,  the  bread-fruits  put  in,  and  the  ashes  and  stones 
raked  over  them.  The  time  of  baking,  I  suppose,  is  concurrent 
with  the  cooling  of  the  small  stones ;  then  a  charred  exterior  is 
scraped  oif,  and  the  bread  is  ready  for  serving,  and  very  good  it 
is.  If  the  aguacate  is  grown  there,  I  have  not  seen  it,  nor 
even  in  the  East,  nor  on  the  islands, — nowhere,  in  fact,  save  in 
the  West  Indies  and  in  Central  America.  The  careful  house- 
wife at  Guam,  in  the  season  of  plenty,  seizes  the  opportunity 
and  boils  a  quantity  of  bread-fruit ;  it  is  then  sliced  and  put 
away  in  jars,  to  be  used  in  gravies,  or  otherwise  prepared.  But, 
as  we  all  know,  "  it  is  not  meet  that  one  should  live  on  bread 
alone,"  which  in  other  forms  abounds  on  the  island,  in  the  best 
of  plantains  and  bananas,  as  also  in  several  varieties  of  the 
mandioco,  from  which  the  bread  of  the  Brazilians  is  made. 
Maize,  known  to  us  as  Indian  corn,  is  also  abundant.  Chickens 
and  turkeys  are  plentiful ;  wild  hogs  and  cattle  are  superior : 
indeed,  I  have  never  eaten  such  good  beef  elsewhere  in  the 


ROBERTS  PROPOSES   TO  LEAVE   THE  ISLAND.        149 

tropics.  The  cattle  are  used  under  the  saddle,  and  on  our 
return  to  the  vessel  we  met  several  natives  mounted  on  them ; 
among  others,  a  very  pretty  young  girl,  the  steer  trotting  off 
with  her  as  though  proud  of  his  burden.  The  men  got  their 
dress-supply  from  whalers,  and  were  clothed  in  the  garb  of 
sailors,  and  the  children  really  had  no  clothing  to  speak  of. 

Along  the  line  of  the  road  were  numerous  school-houses;  our 
return  was  not  the  gala  day  it  appeared  to  be  when  we  went  to 
Agaiia.  Instead  of  sitting  within  the  houses,  where  they  no 
doubt  went  in  rainy  weather,  the  children  were  either  stand- 
ing, or  seated  on  benches,  singing  Ave  Marias,  or  saying  their 
Paternosters,  with  hats  on  their  heads  and  books  in  their  hands, 
without  a  stitch  of  clothing  on  them  :  this  looked  odd,  and  I 
have  never  seen  the  like  elsewhere.  They  were  nice  little  chil- 
dren, too,  and  I  have  no  doubt  every  one  of  them  took  a  bath 
daily,  within  the  reef  that  extended  the  whole  distance  along  the 
six  miles  of  our  ride. 

Although  we  visited  the  capital  from  time  to  time,  we  were 
for  the  most  part  willing  to  go  on  shore  and  sit  under  the  cocoa- 
nut-trees  or  lie  in  a  hammock  hung  between  them,  where  the 
sea-breezes  supplied  the  service  of  an  indefinite  number  of  fans. 
On  one  of  these  occasions  Eoberts  the  pilot  opened  his  heart 
and  told  me  he  was  very  desirous  of  leaving  the  island, 
where  he  had  been  for  twenty-five  years,  to  see  the  world 
again,  and  the  changes  time  had  wrought;  he  was  satiated 
with  the  ease  of  life  by  which  he  was  surrounded,  and  longed 
to  visit  the  haunts  of  men,  where  strife  and  exertion  were 
imposed  upon  existence;  his  children  were  grown  up,  they 
would  not  fail  to  have  all  the  comforts  of  life,  his  home  was 
amply  provided,  and  his  grounds  would  give  them  all  that  was 
required.  I  told  him  promptly  that  I  would  not  favor  in  any 
degree  his  leaving  his  wife  and  the  children  who  had  grown  up 
under  his  care,  and  who  were  so  well  behaved,  and,  I  thought, 
more  intelligent  than  those  generally  who  had  been  reared  with 
more  advantages  as  to  schooling.  He  deceived  himself  greatly 
in  the  supposition  that  the  toils  of  life  to  which  he  would  be  sub- 
jected elsewhere  would  be  found  at  all  comparable  with  the  actual 
luxurious  ease  in  which  he  had  passed  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


150  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

After  I  had  finished  my  lecture,  he  said  he  supposed  that  I  was 
quite  right,  and  he  would  no  longer  entertain  the  idea  of  escap- 
ing from  as  luxurious  a  life  as  the  world  could  give,  and  which 
the  wealth  of  a  monarch  could  not  materially  increase.  As 
children,  we  have  all  read  "  Kasselas,"  and  many  of  us,  as  men, 
have  realized  the  deep  philosophy  that  underlies  the  simple 
story. 

This  island  of  Guam  is  about  eighteen  miles  long,  and  is 
shaped  much  like  an  L,  with  the  long  part  lying  north  and  south, 
on  the  eastern  side  the  end  of  the  projection  at  Umate,  aud  five 
miles  farther  north  the  beautiful  harbor  known  as  Apra,  which 
was  our  anchorage;  the  indentation  led  thence  to  Agafla,  the 
place  of  residence  of  the  governor.  The  northern  part  of  the 
island  was  said  to  be  nearly  uninhabited,  but  well  stocked  with 
wild  hogs,  cattle,  and  numerous  deer,  descended  from  some  that 
had  been  brought  from  Manila.  The  irregular  ridge  of  land 
was  nearly  one  thousand  feet  in  height,  and  six  or  eight  miles 
across,  but  somewhat  less  on  the  southern  face,  running  westward. 
The  chain  of  islands  was  discovered  by  Magellan  in  1521,  and 
the  inhabitants  were  so  much  struck  with  the  properties  of  iron 
that  they  would  steal  it  on  every  occasion  presented,  whence  the 
name  of  Ladron, — "  pirate,"  or  "  thief."  The  islands,  fifteen 
in  number,  extend  five  hundred  miles  north  and  south  :  the  ten 
more  northern  had  not  been  recently  inhabited.  When  dis- 
covered, their  population  was  supposed  to  be  about  forty  thou- 
sand ;  twenty  years  later,  during  which  time  the  natives  had 
been  undergoing  the  process  of  subjugation,  the  census  gave  less 
than  twenty-six  thousand.  They  had  been  taken  possession  of 
by  the  Spanish,  and  were  being  utilized  in  raising  supplies,  and 
in  other  labor,  causing  them  to  disappear.  The  northern  islands, 
having  no  harbors,  were  secure  in  a  great  measure  from  an 
effective  search.  The  natives  have  now  canoes  each  capable  of 
carrying  half  a  dozen  people,  with  an  outrigger  and  float  to  give 
stability  and  enable  them  to  carry  sail.  They  can  readily  cross 
outlying  reefs  in  them,  or  beach  them  under  the  lee  of  the 
islands  at  favorable  points. 

With  the  growth  of  the  power  of  Spain  in  Mexico,  Central 
America,  and  the  Philippine  Islands,  galleons  richly  laden  crossed 


REMARKS   ON   THE  ISLAND.  151 

the  Pacific,  those  bound  west  finding  an  admirable  stopping- 
place  for  stores  at  Apra.  The  natives  failing  them,  it  was  an 
easy  matter  to  supply  the  deficiency  from  Mexico  and  the  Phil- 
ippines. Now,  only  vestiges  of  the  native  language  are  found, 
and  the  Spanish  language  is  not  indifferently  spoken.  The  in- 
habitants are  sprightly,  kindly,  and  obliging,  with  as  much 
industry  as  might  be  supposed  in  a  climate  where  clothing  is 
only  a  matter  of  decency  or  of  ornament,  and  where  food  is 
supplied  by  a  minimum  of  labor,  not  more  than  is  requisite  to 
health. 

I  have  not  yet  exhausted  a  mention  of  the  resources  of  the 
island  ;  the  tobacco  is  excellent,  and  the  old  women,  particularly, 
use  it  with  a  prodigality  that  would  shock  our  delicate  cigarette- 
smokers  of  the  fair  sex.  "When  a  cigar  a  foot  long  and  more 
than  an  inch  in  diameter  is  lighted  in  the  morning,  it  is  quite 
apparent  that  the  smoke  for  a  day  is  plainly  in  sight.  Then 
there  is  the  areca-nut,  chewed  with  the  betel  leaf,  but  the  lime  is 
omitted ;  this  is  used  by  the  Malays,  and  turns  the  teeth  quite 
black.  A  liquor  is  made  by  means  of  a  still  not  much  more 
complicated  than  a  common  teakettle,  only  the  spout  being  longer 
and  different  in  shape.  The  beverage  is  made  from  the  juice 
that  comes  from  cocoa-nuts  ;  when  the  incipient  stem  appears,  it 
is  cut  off,  and  a  vessel  is  attached  to  catch  the  juice;  this  be- 
comes white  in  fermentation,  like  sour  milk,  and  after  it  has 
reached  a  certain  point  it  is  placed  in  the  still  and  vaporized.  I 
tasted  it,  and  have  to  acknowledge  that  to  "  enjoy  it"  would 
require  a  cultivation  that  I  had  neither  time  nor  inclination  to 
undergo. 

Some  ten  years  ago,  I  saw  by  the  newspapers  that  the  island 
had  been  desolated  by  a  cyclone,  and  that  some  time  previous 
an  epidemic  had  taken  off  a  large  number  of  the  inhabitants, 
then  supposed  to  be  twelve  thousand,  one-third  of  whom  died. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  one  of  the  most  healthful,  delightful  islands 
on  the  globe,  and  were  it  in  the  line  of  travel  would  be  visited 
with  great  interest  and  pleasure  by  tourists. 

An  occasional  great  mortality  in  a  country  of  large  extent,  or 
on  an  isolated  island,  is  not  an  evidence  of  unhealth fulness. 
In  the  first  case,  an  increased  mortality  in  any  locality  is  soon 


152  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

compensated  for  through  emigration,  while  an  isolated  island 
has  to  gain  its  own  population  through  a  natural  increase.  The 
islanders  have  little  idea  of  the  frequent  causes  of  disease,  or 
of  their  treatment,  and  of  the  effect  of  dietetic  or  other  conditions 
quite  within  their  reach.  In  tropical  regions,  in  the  rainy  season, 
the  atmosphere  is  saturated  with  vapor  for  months ;  perspiration 
then  saturates  the  clothing,  and,  although  the  temperature  is  ten 
or  fifteen  degrees  cooler  than  in  the  dry  season,  this  damp  heat 
is  very  disagreeable  and  hurtful,  while  in  the  hotter  dry  season, 
even  when  considerable  exertion  is  made,  there  is  little  perspira- 
tion ;  in  fact,  a  dry  atmosphere  carries  it  off  unperceived,  and, 
with  it,  the  superfluous  heat  of  the  person.  In  this  way,  a  long- 
continued  saturated  atmosphere  interferes  with  the  normal  func- 
tions of  the  skin,  by  keeping  it  damp,  and  throws  its  work  in 
the  animal  economy  on  the  internal  organs.  A  tightly-enclosed 
house  in  the  tropics,  and  during  the  rainy  season  artificially 
heated  to  above  the  outside  temperature,  supplemented  by  a 
proper  dietetic  treatment,  would  doubtless  be  far  more  effective 
in  the  treatment  of  many  diseases  than  all  the  medicines  that 
could  be  taken. 

Towards  the  last  of  September  the  southwest  monsoon  had 
died  out,  and  the  showers  that  were  frequent  during  the  early 
part  of  our  visit  passed  away :  the  crew  had  profited  greatly  by 
their  runs  on  shore,  and  we  set  sail  for  our  rendezvous  on  the 
coast  of  China.  The  voyage,  until  we  reached  the  entrance  to 
the  channel  between  Formosa  and  China,  was  delightful,  and  in 
the  latter  part  the  winds  were  quite  fresh.  In  ten  days  we  were 
in  Hong-Kong,  but  in  passing  along,  some  hundred  miles  north 
of  it,  seeing  a  populous  town  lying  in  a  small  indentation  right 
on  the  coast,  we  ran  in,  anchored,  and  spent  a  day.  It  was 
a  fishing  town,  with  a  population  probably  of  two  hundred 
thousand.  We  visited  the  shore,  and,  as  the  greater  number  of 
the  inhabitants  had  seldom  been  treated  to  a  sight  of  European 
races,  the  throng  around  us  was  very  great ;  probably  many  of 
them  had  never  seen  an  American  or  a  European  before.  They 
were  perfectly  amiable,  but  very  curious,  and  examined  our 
hands,  and  were  so  interested  to  see  our  "  true  inwardness"  that 
the  sleeves  of  the  coat,  and  the  shirt,  and  the  silk  undershirt, 


ANCHOR  IN  BLENHEIM  REACH.  \ 53 

were  rolled  back,  that  the  untanned  skin  might  be  looked 
at.  I  never  before  understood  how  gratifying  the  curiosity  of 
the  on-looker  was  to  the  vanity  of  "  the  fat  woman"  or  other 
monstrosity  on  exhibition.  Indeed,  I  had  always  regarded 
them  as  objects  of  commiseration  touching  the  very  point 
that  doubtless,  without  exception,  actually  fills  them  with  con- 
tent. 

In  the  Formosan  Channel  we  were  swept  along  at  a  great  rate 
by  the  current  produced  by  the  strong  wind,  and,  as  the  weather 
was  cloudy,  were  not  aware  of  its  strength  until  we  got  observa- 
tions the  second  day.  I  shall  have  more  to  say  of  these  great 
currents  far  out  at  sea,  that  run  between  confined  banks,  water 
though  those  banks  be. 

In  October  and  the  early  part  of  November  we  anchored  well 
down  in  Blenheim  Reach,  to  avoid  fever,  which  was  prevalent 
at  that  season.  We  were  told  by  the  officers  of  the  British  ves- 
sel-of-war  Vixen,  at  anchor  there,  that  the  intense  heat  would 
abate  with  the  arrival  of  the  first  breath  of  the  northeast  mon- 
soon. About  the  10th  of  November  it  came,  and  thereafter  we 
had  a  delightful  temperature. 

From  the  time  we  left  Shanghai,  about  the  middle  of  July, 
until  near  the  end  of  October,  we  were  actually  without  any 
news  from  home.  At  that  time  there  were  either  monthly  or 
semi-monthly  steamers  from  England,  passing  around  outside, 
via  Gibraltar,  and  bringing  news  in  about  six  weeks  from  Eng- 
land. Actually  six  months  had  passed  since  we  heard  from  our 
relatives  or  received  official  news  from  home.  The  Mexican 
war  was  in  full  blast,  and  the  earlier  battles  had  been  fought 
months  before.  We  had  been  ordered  to  the  west  coast  of 
America,  and,  had  we  known  it  before  we  entered  the  Formosan 
Channel,  could  readily  have  got  there,  but,  as  it  was,  the  captain 
very  rightly  determined  to  come  home  by  way  of  the  Straits  of 
Sunda,  that  we  had  entered  one  year  before.  The  fore-  and 
main-masts  were  found  to  be  sprung,  and  the  chances  of  beating 
to  windward  against  the  current  were  hopeless.  We  might  have 
got  out  by  going  roundabout  by  the  Sooloo  Sea,  with  a  delay  of 
months.  We  watered,  provisioned  ship,  and  sailed  on  the  20th 
of  November,  expecting  or  hoping  that  the  northeast  monsoon 


154         THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

had  set  in  south  of  us,  and  went  on  famously  until  we  passed 
the  mouth  of  the  Gulf  of  Siam,  swept  some  days  at  the  rate  of 
seventy  statute  miles  a  day  by  the  current.  There  the  breeze 
left  us,  and  we  got  out  of  the  strength  of  the  current. 

It  was  a  month  before  we  reached  Anjier,  but  our  experience 
of  sickness  from  watering  there  determined  the  captain  to 
choose  Raja  Bassa,  near  the  eastern  end  of  Sumatra,  on  the 
southern  side,  just  within  the  island  of  Krakatoa,  of  which 
mention  has  already  been  made.  The  bearings  of  the  several 
small  islands  given  in  Horsburgh's  sailing  directions  enabled  us 
to  anchor  within  a  cable's  length  of  a  superb  mountain-torrent, 
that  swept  with  great  force  right  into  the  sea,  from  enough 
elevation  to  allow  us  to  rig  a  hose  and  run  the  water  into  the 
casks.  As  we  sailed  along  near  the  coast  to  this  anchorage,  we 
saw  numbers  of  bamboo  huts.  The  Malays  came  alongside  in 
their  canoes  from  village  to  village,  as  the  wind  was  light  and 
our  rate  of  sailing  only  two  or  three  miles  per  hour.  In  reply 
to  the  captain's  inquiry  as  to  where  the  Raja  Bassa  anchorage 
was,  they  always  pointed  to  their  own  village,  but  good  cross- 
bearings  don't  tell  falsehoods  for  personal  interests,  and,  guided 
by  them,  we  anchored. 

There  was  a  difference  of  opinion  expressed  by  the  captain 
and  others  as  to  the  distance  of  an  outlying  island,  and  whether 
a  shot  from  a  twenty-four-pounder  would  reach  it :  so  the 
second  and  last  shot  fired  during  the  cruise  of  twenty-two 
months  was  sent  out,  and  fell  into  the  water  at  about  half  the 
distance  to  the  island.  At  that  time  Navy  Regulations  required 
that  guns  should  always  be  kept  loaded  at  sea.  It  will  be 
apparent  to  every  one  who  has  used  powder  freely  that  the 
deterioration  would  be  great  in  a  hot  damp  climate,  and,  despite 
of  tompions  and  muzzle-covers,  salt  water  would  find  its  way 
into  the  guns. 

As  pertaining  to  my  duties  as  navigator,  I  was  sent  on  shore 
to  make  arrangements  and  superintend  watering  ship,  and  on 
my  return  the  launch  and  first  cutter  were  hoisted  out,  the  casks 
put  in  the  boats,  and  we  soon  had  the  men  hoisting  in  the  casks 
and  emptying  them.  The  captain  asked  me  how  many  loads 
could  be  taken  in  daily ;  I  replied  that,  with  due  regard  to  the 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  ISLAND  AND   PEOPLE.        155 

health  of  the  men,  I  thought  six  loads  by  each  boat,  beginning 
only  after  the  sun  was  well  up,  and  leaving  the  shore  at  sunset. 
He  said  he  was  in  a  hurry,  and  there  could  be  no  intermission ; 
and  so  it  had  to  be,  with  a  further  increase  of  dysentery  in  an 
enfeebled  crew,  resulting  in  our  burying  a  lot  more  before  we 
reached  Table  Bay  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Of  the  crew 
of  the  launch,  few  or  none  escaped  sickness,  and  several  died. 

With  one  or  two  of  the  men  and  a  Malay  guide,  I  visited 
the  large  village  near  by,  during  the  times  that  the  boats  were 
being  discharged  alongside  the  vessel.  The  cocoa-nut-trees  under 
which  the  houses  were  located  were  tenanted  by  numbers  of 
little  red  squirrels,  such  as  are  common  in  many  parts  of  the 
United  States :  the  natives  were  surprised  at  my  knocking  their 
heads  off  with  a  ball  from  my  rifle.  Extending  my  walk 
beyond  the  village,  at  intervals  I  would  leave  the  pathway 
along  which  my  guide  led  me,  and  invariably  he  would  beckon 
me  back  with  a  gesture  of  alarm.  It  was  to  have  me  avoid 
the  danger  of  being  bitten  by  one  of  the  many  deadly  ser- 
pents infesting  that  whole  region,  as  well  as  British  India,  where 
the  loss  of  life  from  snake-bites  averages  over  twenty  thou- 
sand yearly,  being  many  times  greater  than  the  loss  from 
tigers. 

Before  marriage,  the  Malay  women  have  white  teeth,  and 
chew  the  areca-nut,  with  the  betel  leaf,  without  the  lime,  which 
turns  the  teeth  quite  black.  After  marriage  they  use  lime. 
The  men  file  their  teeth  sharp,  which  adds  to  their  hideous 
appearance.  I  was  very  much  impressed  with  the  difference 
between  the  facial  expression  of  young  girls  and  women  and 
that  of  the  men.  A  stranger  coining  among  them  would  regard 
them  as  of  distinct  races,  owing  to  the  lines  of  care,  thin  features, 
and  distrustful  countenances  of  the  males,  and  the  rounded 
features,  pretty  black  eyes  and  hair,  and  placid  countenances  of 
the  females,  that  seem  to  indicate  peace  with  all  the  world.  I 
was  told  that  the  men  were  given  to  strong  drink  and  were 
extremely  violent  and  treacherous,  and  were  expert  in  the  use 
of  the  Juris,  a  weapon  as  commonly  carried  by  the  males  as  a 
pocket-knife  with  us,  or  the  razor  among  the  desperadoes  in 
this  region.     The  placidity  of  the  features  of  the  women  would 


156  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

seem  to  indicate  that  they  have  not  adopted  that  sentiment  of 
Longfellow : 

"  And  only  the  sorrows  of  others 
Cast  their  shadow  over  me." 

The  supply  of  green  turtle,  of  cocoa-nuts,  and  of  monkeys 
and  baboons  is  unlimited  on  the  island  of  Sumatra,  as  well  as 
at  Anjier  Point,  but  the  fine  fruits  to  be  had  there  are  not 
obtainable  at  ordinary  anchorages.  I  shot  one  of  those  very 
graceful  little  animals  known  as  the  "  mouse  deer,"  no  larger 
in  size  than  a  jack-rabbit.  We  were  obliged  to  buy  some  wood, 
and  I  was  surprised  at  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  small  supply 
for  cooking,  the  smallness  of  the  sticks,  and  the  very  large  price 
demanded,  where  wood  seemed  to  be  superabundant.  On  look- 
ing at  the  axes  used  in  cutting  it,  I  was  no  longer  surprised, 
and,  indeed,  wondered  if  they  ever  attempted  to  cut  down  a 
large  tree. 

We  were  glad  to  leave  our  anchorage,  and  were  soon  fairly 
in  the  monsoon,  on  our  way  to  the  Gape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
made  a  fair  passage,  without  other  incident  than  the  absence  of 
sights  to  determine  our  position  for  three  days,  in  the  mean 
time  striking  the  very  strong  current  lying  east  of  the  island  of 
Madagascar,  which  drifted  us  along,  parallel  to  the  coast-line 
of  that  island,  at  the  rate  of  seventy  statute  miles  a  day.  The 
third  day  I  got  morning  and  evening  time  sights,  but  no 
meridian  observation,  which  ten  years  before  would  have  given 
a  very  unsatisfactory  result  as  to  the  position  of  the  ship. 
Chronometers  had  been  in  general  use  on  all  large  vessels  for 
nearly  half  a  century  before  a  clever  Yankee  captain  of  a 
merchant-ship  had  the  intelligence  to  combine  the  forenoon  with 
the  afternoon  sights,  and  thus  give  the  latitude  graphically  on 
plotting  the  lines  drawn  between  the  longitudes,  due  to  two  lati- 
tudes assumed  and  calculated  upon ;  then  from  a  line  of  bearing 
of  the  morning  sights  plot  the  course  and  distance  run,  up  to  the 
time  that  the  second  sights  were  taken,  drawing  a  parallel  line 
to  the  morning  line  of  bearing  through  the  course  and  distance 
point,  and  the  intersection  of  this  line  with  the  line  of  bearing 
of  the  afternoon  sights,  calculated  with  the  same  latitudes  as  the 


CAPE   TOWN.  157 

morning  sights,  gives  the  position  of  the  ship  in  latitude  and 
longitude  at  the  time  of  the  afternoon  sights,  assuming,  of 
course,  that  the  chronometers  are  correct,  with  error  applied. 
So  many  readers  are  well  informed  on  such  matters  that  an 
apology  is  due  them,  or,  at  least,  a  reminder  that  many  persons 
look  upon  the  finding  of  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  a  ship  at 
sea  as  a  highly-complicated  problem.  A  good  navigator  cer- 
tainly requires  knowledge  other  than  "  rule  of  thumb'7  method, 
but  many  a  one  possessing  only  the  latter,  and  gifted  with  the 
perceptions  of  a  seaman,  is  a  good  navigator, — not  a  mean  dis- 
tinction to  arrive  at,  if  we  consider  the  dangers  of  the  sea. 
Napoleon  said  that  "  the  best  general  made  the  fewest  mistakes  f 
and  the  same  may  be  said  in  relation  to  navigators,  not  as  to 
calculations,  but  in  the  absence  of  sights,  and  subject  to  the 
buffetings  of  the  sea  on  dangerous  approaches  to  coasts. 

The  landsman  knows  little  of  the  joys  of  life  that  come  to 
the  seaman  simply  from  the  quaffing  of  a  sparkling  glass  of 
water  flowing  from  a  spring,  or  from  seeing  in  the  distance,  after 
months  at  sea,  some  desired  land,  as  the  Table  Rock,  overhang- 
ing Cape  Town.  The  name  is  appropriate  to  the  broad  flat  rock 
of  large  extent,  several  thousand  feet  in  height.  In  the  after- 
noon it  is  usually  invisible,  the  "  table-cloth"  being  spread,  when 
the  swirling  mists  come  down  the  mountain-side,  making  the 
town  altogether  disagreeable.  It  is  the  only  spot  known  to  me 
where  men  habitually  wear  veils,  and,  I  think,  with  advantage ; 
I  did  not  do  so,  but  I  have  the  idea  by  that  device  a  good  deal 
of  discomfort  may  be  avoided  there.  While  this  condition  ob- 
tains at  Cape  Town,  a  few  miles  out  the  atmosphere  is  delicious. 

Officers  of  war-vessels  who  visit  the  "  Constantia  vineyards" 
always  have  a  kindly  reception,  and  I  am  disposed  to  regard 
them  as  one  of  the  heavens  that  the  Mohammedans  hope  to  gain. 
While  enjoying  such  recreation,  after  a  long  sea-voyage,  if  asked 
the  question,  "  Is  life  worth  living  ?"  one  would  think  the  man 
had  been  drinking,  not  wisely,  but  altogether  too  much.  It 
seems  to  me  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  attraction  at  the 
Constantia  vineyards  is  the  bevy  of  charming,  graceful,  healthy 
young  ladies  pertaining  to  all  of  them.  There  are  no  pinched- 
up  waists  with  them,  but  a  graceful  carriage  and  appearance, 


158         THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

quite  tempting  a  young  man  to  desire  to  take  up  his  abode 
there. 

In  February,  1847,  when  we  were  there,  the  admirable  break- 
waters that  now  exist  at  Cape  Town  were  just  begun,  or  at  least 
were  of  little  advantage.  Heavy  gales,  at  intervals  of  months, 
at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  would  sweep  full  into  the  harbor, 
and  vessels  at  times  would  part  their  chains  or  drag  their  anchors 
and  go  on  shore  right  in  face  of  the  town. 

Then,  and  at  a  later  visit,  of  which  mention  will  be  made, 
Cape  Town  contained  a  very  hospitable,  kindly  population.  It 
was  not  until  after  my  second  visit  to  this  region  that  I  fully 
recognized  the  "grip"  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  on  the  populations 
of  the  world. 

The  Cape  is  admirably  supplied  in  provisions,  grapes  of  the 
best,  and  flat-tailed  sheep,  of  which  the  tail  weighs  one-third 
and  is  one  mass  of  fat.  I  never  have  been  able  to  imagine  what 
possible  use  the  sheep  can  make  of  this  tail  when  living,  or  what 
the  owner  can  do  with  it  when  he  has  killed  his  sheep. 

Our  crew  was  given  liberty  on  shore,  and  the  sick  sent  to 
the  hospital,  until  we  should  leave.  The  officers,  who  had  been 
unwell  too,  were  soon  as  strong  as  ever,  and  enjoyed  riding  out 
to  the  Constantia  vineyards  to  see  the  young  ladies,  sweeter  even 
than  the  sweet  Constantia  wine,  noted  the  world  over  as  the 
only  sweet  wine — unless  it  be  Tokay — possessing  a  delicate 
flavor.  Not  being  able  to  carry  away  any  of  the  young  ladies, 
we  had  to  content  ourselves  with  bringing  home  ankers  of  wine 
to  our  friends ;  and  we  found  it  much  prized. 

About  the  middle  of  February  we  bade  adieu  to  Cape  Town, 
and  soon  after  entered  the  trade-winds,  and,  until  we  got  through 
the  northeast  belt,  had  the  most  charming  sailing  imaginable. 
On  this  voyage  I  had  literally  a  "  windfall,"  an  expression  in 
use  among  seamen  for  good  luck.  Sitting  in  the  wardroom, 
after  dark,  calculating  the  position  of  the  ship,  I  heard  some- 
thing fall  down  the  windsail,  and  found  that  a  large  flying-fish 
had  struck  within  the  tube  and  fallen  at  my  feet.  This  occur- 
rence was  not  unfrequent,  but  it  was  the  only  one  that  individu- 
ally presented  itself  to  me. 

Outside  the  Gulf  Stream,  off  our  coast,  we  spoke  a  schooner 


MR.  MASON,  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVV.  159 

bouDd  for  the  West  Indies,  and  got  from  her  some  bushels  of 
Hanover  turnips  for  the  crew  and  the  officers'  messes.  That 
night,  a  heavy  southeast  gale  set  in,  and  we  had  it  rough  for 
forty-eight  hours, — so  rough,  indeed,  that  we  did  not  have  a 
table  set ;  but  we  enjoyed  our  Hanover  turnips  and  salt  boiled 
pork,  holding  on  between-times,  quite  as  much  as  a  gourmet 
enjoys  a  banquet  at  Delmonico's  in  New  York. 

Coming  below,  after  my  morning  watch,  I  was  called  by  the 
assistant  surgeon,  who  occupied  the  room  that  "  Little  Nell's" 
grandfather  had  used  previous  to  his  being  detached  and  sent 
home  from  Canton  River.  The  hatches  being  battened  down, 
the  heavy  rolling  of  the  ship  brought  out  the  odor  in  the  room 
as  unmistakably  as  possible,  and  we  had  to  acknowledge  that 
the  perfume  of  his  predecessor  had  actually  stored  itself  away 
in  the  wood  and  was  given  out  on  extraordinary  occasions. 

The  gale  over,  we  made  sail,  and  in  a  few  days  were  close  in 
under  the  Highland  light ;  at  daylight  we  encountered  a  very 
heavy  squall,  the  clouds  rolling  over  one  another  as  though  they 
were  solid  cylindrical  bodies. 

We  were  soon  up  at  the  navy-yard,  the  crew  paid  off,  and  the 
officers  given  their  three  months'  leave  to  visit  friends,  after 
which  young  lieutenants,  and  officers  of  junior  grades,  expected 
sea  orders  within  a  few  weeks.  I  had  brought  home  a  lot  of 
the  long-jointed  Malacca  canes,  intending  three  of  them  for  par- 
ticular friends,  one  of  whom  was  General  Hamer,  who  had  died 
not  long  after  the  capture  of  Monterey.  Knowing  that  he  had 
a  large  family,  probably  not  well  provided  for,  I  made  it  my 
business  to  go  to  Washington  en  route  to  Ohio,  to  endeavor  to 
get  one  of  his  sons  an  appointment  as  midshipman,  should  he 
be  disposed  to  go  to  sea.  I  was  aware  of  the  great  intimacy  of 
President  Polk  and  the  father  of  the  youth,  and  on  arriving  in 
Washington  I  lost  no  time  in  calling  on  the  President.  It  hap- 
pened that  Mr.  Mason,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  was  present, 
and,  hearing  my  statement,  he  advised  me  to  call  at  the  Navy 
Department.  Not  recognizing  him  personally,  I  regarded  him 
as  some  one  wishing  to  be  officious.  The  President  asked  if  the 
young  man  wished  an  appointment ;  I  told  him  I  did  not  know, 
having  just  arrived  from  the  Asiatic  station,  but  it  seemed  to 


1(50  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

me  probable  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  receive  it.  The  Presi- 
dent told  me  to  go  to  the  Navy  Department.  Regarding  this 
as  simply  a  suggestion  to  get  rid  of  me,  I  left  the  White  House. 
Meeting  my  navy  friend  Maffit  on  the  Avenue,  I  vented  my 
spleen  on  the  gentleman  who  had  proposed  that  I  should  go  to 
the  Department,  and  added  that  the  President  had  repeated  the 
suggestion.  Maffit  inquired  if  it  might  not  have  been  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy  ;  I  said  no,  for  I  knew  the  Secretary  by 
sight  before  I  left  Washington.  Nevertheless  I  was  mistaken, 
as  I  found  on  going  to  his  house  to  dine  with  his  son,  a  ship- 
mate and  friend,  who  had  kindly  invited  me.  The  Secretary 
met  me  very  warmly,  and  said  that  should  the  young  gentleman 
of  whom  I  had  spoken  to  the  President  wish  an  appointment 
I  should  write  him,  and  it  would  be  sent  forthwith,  which  in 
fact  was  done. 

After  a  visit  to  my  relatives  and  friends,  I  was  ordered  on 
Coast  Survey  duty  for  the  time  in  Washington.  '  When  my 
young  friend  came  East  to  enter  the  navy,  I  found  he  was  not 
prepared  to  pass  an  examination ;  I  became  his  instructor,  and 
when  he  was  prepared  went  with  him  to  Annapolis,  where  he 
passed  for  entry  as  acting  midshipman. 

At  that  time  I  did  not  appreciate  how  much  more  important 
it  is  for  a  youngster  to  be  with  able  officers  than  to  be  on  board 
of  a  good  vessel ;  my  young  friend  was  ordered  to  a  crack  ship, 
but  her  commanding  officer  was  indifferent,  and  an  unusual 
number  of  the  officers  under  his  command  were  of  the  same 
stripe. 

The  vessel  sailed  for  the  Pacific,  where  he  served  for  a  year 
or  more,  then  he  resigned  and  came  home.  He  afterwards  en- 
listed under  Lopez  the  filibuster  to  go  to  Cuba,  and  died  en 
route  of  cholera  at  Louisville.  Although  everything  did  not  turn 
out  well,  I  had  at  least  the  gratification  of  having  endeavored 
to  serve  the  son  of  my  friend  Hamer. 


ORDERED   TO   THE  SURVEYING-STEAMER  BIBB.      161 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Duty  on  the  Coast  Survey  near  Nantucket  in  the  Spring  of  1848 — Ordered 
to  the  Surveying-Steamer  Bibb — Professors  Agassiz  and  Desor — The  Dis- 
covery of  the  First  Viviparous  Scale-Fish — Some  Remarks  on  Nantucket 
and  Adjacent  Country — Mother  Carey's  Whale-Ships — A  Lady  in  Green 
Spectacles  has  her  say  about  a  Man  drowned — Rockport,  Massachusetts — 
The  White  Rock,  alias  the  Ammen  Rock — Engaged  on  the  Nautical 
Almanac— A  Meeting  with  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis — A  Visit  to  Hon.  John 
Quincy  Adams — A  Practical  Joke — John  Y.  Mason — California  Gold 
Excitement — Wars  in  Europe. 

In  the  spring  of  1848,  on  the  application  of  my  former  com- 
manding officer,  then  Lieutenant  Charles  H.  Davis,  I  was 
ordered  to  the  surveying-steamer  Bibb,  engaged  in  sounding  the 
Nantucket  shoals  and  adjacent  waters,  with  Nantucket  as  the 
ordinary  rendezvous  and  a  coal-supply  at  Edgartown,  on  Martha's 
Vineyard  Island,  some  thirty  miles  from  Nantucket. 

The  associations  and  the  duties  were  very  pleasant,  despite  the 
drawbacks  of  one  kind  or  another,  some  of  them  unavoidable, 
principally  from  the  unfitness  of  the  vessels  engaged  on  the 
work,  and  consequently  the  meagreness  of  results,  and  partly 
owing  to  fogs  and  the  distance  of  our  usual  field  of  operations 
from  the  coast.  The  Bibb  was  a  small  iron  steamer  built  for 
the  revenue  service,  with  a  flat  bottom  and  little  speed.  When 
we  went  out  on  the  shoals  we  towed  one  or  two  schooners  if  the 
breeze  was  not  fair :  they  anchored  and  served  as  points  of  ob- 
servation. Their  positions  were  determined  by  observations 
made  from  a  church  tower  in  Nantucket  and  from  Sancoty  head- 
light. It  was  an  indifferent  base,  but  the  best  obtainable.  With 
the  amount  of  fogs  and  foul  weather  on  that  coast,  so  little  was 
accomplished  of  outside  work  that  it  was  quite  depressing.  Very 
often  we  were  able  to  work  satisfactorily  for  days  in  the  inner 
waters  when  a  fog-bank  covered  the  shoals.  When  endeavoring 
to  sound  on  the  shoals  we  would  usually  lie  at  anchor  under 
Great  Point,  the  northern  end  of  the  island,  and  frequently  get 
under  way  at  midnight  to  go  out  some  thirty-five  miles,  and 

11 


162  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

when  we  got  there  anchor  in  the  fog,  and  occasionally,  after 
lying  there  and  rolling  about  for  several  days,  be  driven  in  for 
shelter  from  a  heavy  northeaster. 

We  had  with  us  at  times,  for  a  few  weeks,  Professor  Agassiz, 
lately  arrived  from  Neufchatel,  and  his  assistant,  Professor  Desor. 
Both  of  these  gentlemen  were  charming  messmates,  and  quite 
absorbed  by  the  specimens  of  shell-fishes  we  dredged  or  brought 
up  in  mud.  The  fecundity  of  life  in  seas  is  extraordinary,  and 
wholly  unsuspected  by  persons  who  sail  over  them.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  these  visits  were  the  cause  of  the  discovery  of  the 
first  viviparous  scale-fish  known  to  naturalists.  In  the  summer 
of  1852,  then  attached  to  a  commission  for  the  location  of  the 
navy-yard  on  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  my  friend  Lieutenant 
Jackson  went  fishing  and  brought  on  board  several  scale-fish, 
not  unlike  a  perch  in  appearance,  that  I  found  to  be  viviparous, 
and  I  recommended  him  to  send  specimens  to  Agassiz,  who 
received  them  with  surprise  and  gratification,  and  the  fish  was 
named  after  Jackson. 

For  a  century  or  more,  the  island  of  Nantucket  had  been  the 
residence  of  persons  whose  occupations  were  mostly  fishing,  and, 
later,  particularly  in  the  sperm-whale-fisheries,  making  long 
voyages  to  the  Pacific  and  bringing  home  valuable  cargoes.  At 
the  time  of  our  visit  these  industries  were  on  the  wane,  and  their 
shipping  still  engaged  in  that  industry  had  been  transferred  to 
New  Bedford,  an  excellent  harbor,  while  that  of  Nantucket  was 
so  shoal  as  to  require  a  "  camel,"  a  species  of  floating  dock  to 
take  a  ship  within,  then  pump  out  the  "  camel,"  and  thus  have 
a  less  draught  by  reason  of  the  increased  water-borne  area.  But 
the  persons  engaged  in  whaling  and  their  families  still  clung  to 
Nantucket,  a  land  without  a  tree  that  was  not  planted  and 
sheltered,  save  a  species  of  scrub-oak  growing  in  the  sand,  over 
the  tops  of  which  a  man  on  horseback  could  easily  look.  There 
is  no  soil,  but  an  abundance  of  sand  on  the  island.  The  usual 
conveyance  to  Siasconsett,  on  the  southeastern  angle  of  the 
island,  seven  miles  from  the  town,  was  in  carts  and  through  sand 
several  inches  in  depth.  The  people  we  met  were  altogether 
pleasant  and  intelligent,  and  among  them  were  persons  of  ex- 
ceptional acquirements  and  agreeability. 


MOTHER    CAREY'S    WHALE-SHIPS.  1(53 

In  the  families  of  the  mates  and  boat-steerers,  sea-phrases 
were  used  very  like  those  on  board  of  whale-ships,  and  at 
Siasconsett,  for  the  entertainment  of  persons  who  made  a  visit, 
Mother  Carey  had  established  an  object-lesson  of  several  whale- 
ships  in  tanks  that  had  doubtless  been  made  on  voyages  by  the 
crews  of  whalers  in  their  hours  of  leisure.  With  her  volumi- 
nous cap,  as  imposing  as  the  head-dress  of  an  English  barrister, 
Mrs.  Carey  would  go  through  the  whole  recount  of  her  show 
with  all  the  earnestness  and  particularity  of  Mrs.  Jarley  in  her 
exhibit  of  wax-works.  "  Now,  there,  that's  the  whaler  Baxter. 
Everything  is  perfect  about  that  ship.  Just  look  at  her.  There's 
the  man  at  the  mast-head ;  you  see  he  has  a  glass,  and  he's  peering 
around.  Then  he  sees  a  whale,  and  sings  out,  '  There  she  blows/ 
and  the  captain  says,  l Where  away?'  then  he  says,  so  many 
'  pints'  on  the  lee  bow ;  then  they  square  away  and  run  down 
for  the  whales,  and  git  their  boats  ready  for  lowering,  and  when 
they  git  there  they  lay  the  main-topsail  to  the  mast  and  they 
lower  away,  and  all  of  'em  go,  except  the  cook  and  a  sick  man, 
and  they  fasten  on  to  the  whale  and  pay  out  the  line,  and,  my 
sakes,  when  they  check  up  don't  the  whale  drag  'em  along  lively  ! 
fairly  takes  their  breath  away ;  and  when  the  whale  tires  out 
they  pull  in  on  the  line,  and  lance  him  ;  and  when  they  kill  him 
they  put  a  flag  on  him, — don't  you  see  ? — and  go  after  another  ; 
and  when  they  can't  git  any  more  whales  they  go  to  the  ship 
and  make  sail  to  git  up,  for  the  whales  'most  always  run  to 
windward,  and  when  they  git  up  to  him  they  tackle  on  to  him, 
and  hoist  it  partly  out  of  the  water,  and  cut  it  round  and  round, 
and  that's  called  the  blanket-piece ;  and  when  the  blubber  is  cut 
up  it  is  put  in  the  pans  and  fried  out  and  put  away  in  the 
barrels,  and  when  it  gits  home  it  is  sold,  and  every  man,  from 
the  captain  down,  gits  his  lay." 

A  visitor  asked,  "  What  is  a  '  lay,'  Mrs.  Carey  ?" 
"  Goodness  !  don't  know  what  a  '  lay'  is  !  Why,  that's  the 
'shear' every  man  gits,  just  what  he  ships  for.  The  captain 
gits  the  big  lay,  then  the  mate,  and  then  the  boat-steerers,  and 
so  on  down  to  the  cabin-boy  :  each  one  has  his  '  shear.'  But  I 
haven't  shown  you  all  yet.  Look  down  into  the  water :  there's 
a  man.     When  the  line  was  running  out,  it  took  a  round  turn 


164  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

on  his  body  or  his  leg,  and  the  whale  always  sounds  when  it's 
struck,  and  it  took  him  down,  and  he's  drowned." 

"  Now,  Mrs.  Carey,  what  is  '  sounding'  ?" 

"  Bless  my  soul !  I  thought  everybody  knew  that  when  a 
whale  was  struck  he  always  '  sounded,'  and  you  don't.  It 
means  going  right  down  until  the  line  is  out,  and  if  he  keeps  on 
going  down  they  have  to  cut  the  line  if  it  don't  part,  or  the 
boat  would  go  down  too." 

The  payment  of  a  dime  a  head  followed  the  exhibition,  and 
the  visitors  left. 

We  went  from  time  to  time  to  Edgartown  to  take  in  coal, 
there  being  a  good  wharf,  alongside  of  which  we  made  fast. 
On  one  occasion,  after  coaling  had  ceased,  one  of  the  men  went 
out  on  the  bowsprit  in  the  twilight,  and  seated  himself.  Other 
men  were  near  by,  and  saw  him  fall  overboard,  and  would  have 
attempted  to  rescue  him,  had  he  come  to  the  surface ;  he  proba- 
bly had  epilepsy,  and  his  kicking  may  have  kept  him  down : 
he  drowned  actually  before  the  officers  on  board  were  aware 
that  a  man  had  fallen  overboard.  When  it  was  known,  his 
body  was  dragged  for,  and,  after  some  hours,  found.  The  fol- 
lowing day  the  captain  and  other  senior  officers  were  on  shore, 
taking  exercise,  and  I  happened  to  be  the  only  one  on  board. 
I  was  sitting  in  the  cabin  about  noon,  occupied,  and  was  in- 
formed by  the  man  on  duty  that  a  lady  wished  to  see  the  com- 
manding officer.  Congratulating  myself  on  the  rare  opportunity 
of  appearing  in  so  important  a  rUe  as  that  of  a  commanding  officer, 
I  sent  a  message  that  I  would  be  pleased  to  see  the  lady ;  and 
forthwith  there  stalked  in,  slowly  and  solemnly,  a  tall  figure, 
with  clothing  fitted  to  her  person  as  though  desirous  of  reveal- 
ing the  grace  of  figure  nature  had  bestowed,  tall,  bony,  and 
angular  as  it  was.  She  wore  green  spectacles, — at  the  time  an 
outward  expression  of  a  literary  turn  of  mind  in  that  region. 
I  arose,  made  my  best  bow,  requested  my  visitor  to  be  seated, 
expressed  my  gratification  at  her  visit,  and  inquired  how  I  could 
serve  her.  Notwithstanding  the  green  spectacles,  I  could  see 
that  her  eye  was  severely  upon  me.  In  a  measured  and  deeply- 
solemn  tone  she  said,  "  I  understand  there  was  a  man  droivnded 
here  last  night."     I  replied  that,  unhappily,  that  was  the  fact. 


"J  THINK  THAT  MAN  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  SAVED."     165 

I  recounted  the  circumstance  as  above  given,  which  seemed  to 
fix  in  her  mind  a  culpability  on  some  one,  and,  as  I  was  present, 
perhaps  on  me  in  particular.  To  her  severe  question,  "  Couldn't 
that  man  have  been  saved  ?"  I  could  only  reply  that  if  the  fact 
had  been  known  in  advance  that  he  would  fall  off  the  bowsprit, 
and  preparations  had  been  made  to  meet  the  case,  it  seemed  to  me 
quite  likely  that  he  could  have  been,  but  that  under  the  actual 
condition,  although  the  disposition  was  strong,  the  means  at 
hand  could  not  avail.  Majestically  she  arose,  and,  regarding 
me  sternly,  said,  before  she  turned  and  left  the  cabin,  "  I  think 
that  man  could  have  been  saved."  She  evidently  belonged  to 
that  class  that  had  a  beginning,  but  probably  will  endure  as 
long  as  mankind,  who  are  always  regarding  the  shortcomings 
of  others,  and  are  protected  themselves  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  from  committing  even  an  indiscretion.  They  go  about 
the  world  to  convert  the  heathen,  or  stay  at  home  and  enlighten 
people  as  to  just  what  they  should  or  might  have  done,  as  in 
this  case. 

Near  Edgartown  is  an  old  cemetery  with  tombstones  en- 
graved with  sentiments  of  sorrow  and  appreciation.  I  read 
on  one  of  them  an  effusion  relating  to  man  and  wife,  and  after 
the  legend  was, — 

"  John  and  Lydia,  that  lovely  pair — 
He  was  killed  by  a  whale,  her  body  lies  here. 
And  now  we  hope  they  with  Christ  do  reign : 
So  our  great  loss  is  their  great  gain." 

A  maiden  lady  whom  I  knew  at  Edgartown  was  far  more 
presentable  and  agreeable  than  my  acquaintance  who  came  to 
utter  a  reproach,  but  the  one  theme  that  possessed  the  poor 
woman  was  that  her  "  aincestors"  (as  she  pronounced  the  word) 
came  over  in  the  Mayflower :  this  seemed  in  her  mind  of  more 
value  than  patent  of  nobility,  or  pearls,  or  precious  stones. 

Surveying  duty,  which  often  lasted  up  to  the  early  part  of 
November  in  Massachusetts  Bay  or  near  the  coast,  was  particu- 
larly pleasant.  We  had  an  aged  pilot  named  Wilson,  of  whom  I 
have  had  no  thought  for  a  third  of  a  century,  a  rugged  old  seaman 
of  many  winters.     On  one  occasion  he  gravely  asked  me  if  I 


166  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

had  been  in  any  of  the  frigate  engagements  in  our  War  of  1812 
with  Great  Britain.  I  answered,  as  seriously  as  possible,  that 
I  had  not  been  favored  with  the  opportunity,  which  amused  my 
messmates  very  much,  inasmuch  as  I  was  born  quite  five  years 
after  the  close  of  that  war. 

During  the  summer  of  1848  I  was  sent  from  Nantucket  to 
Rockport,  Massachusetts,  with  authority  to  charter  a  fishing- 
schooner  and  endeavor  to  locate  what  was  well  known  to  fisher- 
men as  the  White  Rock,  it  being  the  shoalest  spot  on  Cashes' 
Ledge,  lying  some  eighty  miles  east  of  Cape  Ann.  I  secured 
a  fishing-schooner  owned  by  two  brothers  named  Blackford,  and 
hired  a  young  man  to  mark  time  for  me  when  I  took  chronometer 
sights.  Our  crew  consisted  of  the  two  Blackfords,  one  man,  and 
a  cook,  and  we  set  sail  as  soon  as  ready,  provided  with  sextant 
and  chronometer.  We  were  soon  out  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
ledge,  and  would  then  tack,  back  and  forth,  making  a  traverse 
over  the  ledge,  all  the  time  in  a  thick  fog,  sounding  by  means 
of  a  very  heavy  sinker  of  lead  on  an  ordinary  cod-line.  After 
spending  several  days  in  this  futile  search,  laying-to  after  night 
under  short  sail,  and  gaining  such  information  from  my  com- 
panions as  I  could,  I  finally  ran  back  to  Rockport. 

I  can  hardly  imagine  a  more  disagreeable,  painful,  and  dan- 
gerous life  than  that  of  our  coast  fishermen.  As  to  the  danger, 
the  number  of  widows  in  fishing  towns  bears  sad  testimony. 
Our  boat  was  some  forty  tons'  displacement,  when  laden ;  with 
nothing  in  her  but  ballast,  when  sailing  by  the  wind  her  lee 
scuppers  were  under  water.  The  cabin  was  a  little  hole  in  the 
bow,  in  which  there  was  a  cooking-stove  and  a  chimney  built 
up  with  bricks.  I  could  get  no  reason  for  this  singular  idea : 
how  they  were  held  together  I  do  not  now  remember.  The 
days  were  quite  long  at  that  season.  At  sunrise  the  cook  would 
come  down  and  kindle  a  wood  fire,  and  I  would  be  literally 
"  smoked  out,"  and  obliged  to  go  on  deck  into  a  wet  fog  and 
sit  to  windward  on  a  wet  deck.  We  had  a  salt  beef  "  scouce" 
daily,  in  the  morning,  at  noon,  and  at  night,  and  hard  bread. 
After  a  day  or  so  I  inquired  why  they  had  no  codfish,  and  was 
informed  that  it  was  too  common  a  food.  At  my  request  we 
hove  to,  put  over  a  few  fishing-lines,  and  soon  had  some  nice 


THE    WHITE  ROCK,  ALIAS   THE  AMMEN  ROCK.       167 

fresh  fish,  which  saved  me  from  starvation.  The  general  idea 
expressed  by  my  companions  was  that  for  ease  of  life,  comfort, 
and  profit,  nothing  presented  itself  at  all  comparable  to  cod-  or 
mackerel-fishing. 

Before  I  went  into  port  I  ascertained  that  early  in  July  large 
numbers  of  vessels  anchored  all  along  the  ledge,  which  lies 
nearly  parallel  with  the  coast,  about  thirty  miles  distant,  the 
feeding-ground  for  the  fish  being  on  the  rocky  bottom  on  and 
near  the  ledge.  Seeking  the  rock  by  cruising  was  a  hopeless 
task,  but  in  clear  weather,  usual  at  the  season  mentioned,  and 
aided  by  so  many  points  of  observation,  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  to  find  the  White  Rock ;  and  this  fact  was  reported  on 
my  return  to  the  Bibb. 

The  next  July  Captain  Davis  took  the  Bibb  out  on  the  ledge, 
and,  although  very  few  vessels  had  yet  reached  the  fishing- 
ground,  the  very  first  one  spoken  gave  us  information  as  to  the 
bearing  and  distance  of  the  "  White  Rock."  Running  a  traverse 
with  the  bearing  given  as  a  central  point,  in  an  hour  or  so  we 
dropped  our  anchor  right  on  the  top  of  it.  It  was  said  to  have 
only  eighteen  feet  of  water  over  it.  The  shoal  spot  was  little 
larger  than  the  floor  of  a  large  schooner,  and  the  water  so  clear 
that  the  bottom  could  be  seen  everywhere.  Among  the  long 
kelp  leaves  that  nearly  reached  the  surface  were  numbers  of 
a  small  reddish  kind  of  fish  known  as  rock  cod,  and  halibut. 
Anchored  upon  it,  as  the  vessel  swung  around,  the  lead  was  used 
without  finding  any  shoaler  ground  than  twenty-two  feet.  For 
a  large  sea-steamer  it  is  a  dangerous  spot,  small  as  it  is,  and  now 
that  dynamite  is  so  effective,  it  would  be  worth  while  to  en- 
deavor to  blast  the  top  to  a  depth  of  forty  feet  or  more.  The 
following  morning  was  clear,  and  wTe  had  a  good  horizon.  At 
noon  all  the  officers  took  observations  for  latitude.  About  two 
o'clock,  or  later,  the  steamer  Europa,  as  we  knew  afterwards, 
passed  along  some  six  miles  distant,  the  smoke-stacks  well  above 
the  southern  horizon,  and  left  a  great  smoke-cloud  for  a  time, 
which  gradually  settled  until  it  was  apparently  no  longer  visible, 
but  it  actually  formed  a  false  horizon  that  vitiated  the  afternoon 
sights.  Nevertheless,  the  position  was  ascertained  close  enough 
for  all  practical  purposes.     The  captain  was  so  much  gratified 


168  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

at  the  facility  with  which  he  had  found  the  rock  that  he  told  me 
he  would  call  it  the  Ammen  Rock,  which  he  did.  I  replied 
that  I  did  not  exactly  see  why  he  should  do  so,  as  I  had  looked 
for  it  and  did  not  find  it. 

After  the  vessels  were  laid  up  and  a  month's  leave  given  the 
officers,  such  of  them  as  were  required  were  ordered  to  Wash- 
ington to  bring  up  the  work  or  to  tabulate  tidal  observations. 
I  was  engaged  in  this  for  two  winters  with  my  friend  Lieuten- 
ant John  Pembroke  Jones.  It  was  a  work  where  two  could  be 
advantageously  employed,  the  one  using  the  Nautical  Almanac 
and  the  other  putting  down  the  observations. 

In  the  early  part  of  1848  I  received  a  letter  from  my  brother, 
then  in  Mississippi,  suggesting  that  I  should  call  on  Colonel 
Jefferson  Davis,  recently  elected  United  States  Senator,  and  offer 
his  congratulations  upon  Davis's  distinguished  services  in  the 
field  and  his  political  advancement  to  the  Senate.  Within  a 
few  days  after  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  walking  on  Pennsylvania 
Avenue  near  the  Capitol,  I  saw  Colonel  Davis  conversing  with 
a  friend,  and  availed  myself  of  the  opportunity  to  introduce 
myself,  and  to  say  that  my  brother,  whom  he  would  remember 
as  a  cadet  at  West  Point,  was  desirous  of  expressing  through  me 
his  gratification  and  his  congratulations.  The  colonel  met  me 
very  affably,  and  was  good  enough  to  invite  me  to  call  and  see 
him,  which  I  did  thereafter  as  often  as  I  could  without  obtrusion. 
He  was  then  slightly  lame  from  a  wound  in  the  foot  or  ankle, 
and  pale  and  thin  from  the  effects  of  it.  His  height  was  about 
six  feet,  his  voice  and  manner  pleasant,  and  when  at  home  he 
was  disposed  to  indulge  in  dignified  pleasantries.  Had  it  not 
been  for  his  encouragement  I  would  probably  have  left  the  navy 
and  anticipated  the  advice  of  Horace  Greeley  "  to  go  West."  I 
had  been  in  the  navy  more  than  twelve  years,  and  was  so  far 
down  on  the  list  of  passed  midshipmen  as  to  have  little  hope  of 
reaching  even  the  rank  of  commander  before  fifty-five  years  of 
age.  It  was  my  wish,  if  possible,  to  get  a  position  as  surveyor 
of  public  lands,  or  something  that  I  might  be  qualified  for 
through  my  past  pursuits.  The  colonel  kindly  listened  to  my 
plaint,  and  said  that  slow  promotion  was  certainly  discouraging, 
but  that  sooner  or  later  my  promotion  would  come.     There  was 


A   PRACTICAL  JOKE.  169 

General  Taylor ;  he  had  been  a  great  many  years  in  the  army 
and  had  a  low  rank  until  the  Mexican  war  gave  him  an  op- 
portunity. This  would  come  to  me,  probably  through  the 
chances  of  war  or  changes  in  the  service.  He  was  so  instruc- 
tive in  his  conversation  and  so  agreeable  and  sympathetic  in  his 
manner  that  I  would  have  trespassed  on  his  time  had  I  not 
guarded  against  it. 

At  that  time,  as  now,  the  evening  receptions  of  people  of 
position  were  a  feature  in  Washington.  On  one  occasion  I  went 
rather  early  to  the  house  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  serving 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  although  he  had  been  Presi- 
dent many  years  before.  A  nephew  who  loved  his  practical 
joke  went  to  Mr.  Adams  and  told  him  a  Prussian  officer  had 
come  in,  and  suggested  the  propriety  of  his  going  down  to  see 
him.  Mr.  Adams  came  into  the  room,  bowed,  shook  hands 
with  me,  and  entered  into  conversation  by  asking  how  long  I 
had  been  in  this  country.  I  told  him  six  or  seven  months. 
Then  he  questioned  me  as  to  where  I  had  been,  what  I  had  seen, 
etc.  After  endeavoring  to  escape  a  conversation  which  I  felt  sure 
was  the  result  of  a  misapprehension,  I  said  I  thought  perhaps 
he  was  mistaken  in  my  identity ;  I  was  a  passed  midshipman  in 
our  navy,  and  recently  the  navigator  of  the  Yincennes  on  her 
cruise  to  China  and  Japan.  He  said  he  had  thought  I  was  a 
foreign  officer,  but  was  the  more  glad  to  meet  a  countryman 
who  had  been  to  Japan,  as  he  felt  a  very  great  interest  in  the 
Japanese  people,  and  proceeded  to  question  me.  I  told  him 
that,  as  we  lay  a  considerable  distance  from  the  shore  when  at 
anchor  in  the  lower  bay  of  Jeddo,  we  could  see  little,  save  the 
magnificent  mountain  of  Fusiyama,  and  high  ranges  of  moun- 
tains. As  far  as  we  could  see,  in  sailing  along  the  coast,  it  was 
well  wooded.  He  was  much  interested  in  what  I  told  him  of 
our  personal  intercourse  with  those  who  had  come  on  board  of 
the  Vincennes,  and  wished  to  know  what  I  thought  of  the 
likelihood  of  opening  a  traffic  with  Japan.  I  answered  that  as 
it  depended  on  the  will  of  only  one  or  two  men  and  their 
advisers,  it  did  not  look  encouraging  :  I  felt  convinced,  however, 
that  it  would  be  entirely  agreeable  to  the  persons  of  rank  with 
whom  we  came  in  contact  on  board  ship.     Then  he  inquired 


170  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

what  I  thought  of  the  probable  number  of  inhabitants,  their 
commercial  wants,  and  what  they  would  possibly  oifer  in  ex- 
change. I  met  Mr.  Adams  from  time  to  time  afterwards,  and 
appreciated  him  as  a  well-instructed  statesman,  and  altogether 
an  agreeable  gentleman ;  he  was  rather  small  in  stature,  with  a 
kindly  manner  and  an  intelligent  expression. 

The  house  of  John  Y.  Mason,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  at  that 
time,  was  noted  for  its  genial  hospitality  :  the  fact  of  his  son  and 
myself  having  made  a  cruise  together  made  me  almost  as  much 
at  home  at  his  house  as  though  I  had  been  a  near  relative.  In 
the  winter  of  1849  the  California  gold  fever  prevailed  to  a 
great  extent  in  Washington ;  a  considerable  number  of  young 
navy  men  were  aifected,  and  obtained  leaves  of  absence  to  seek 
their  fortunes.  Mr.  Mason  was  genial  and  benevolent,  and 
withal  a  very  good  Secretary  of  the  Navy :  when  I  was  paying 
his  family  a  visit  he  asked  me  if  I  wished  to  go  to  California  on 
duty,  or  if  I  would  like  to  have  a  leave.  I  thanked  him,  and 
said  if  I  went  on  duty  it  would  be  under  the  disadvantage  of 
living  with  great  discomfort  on  my  pay,  as  food  and  everything 
else  sold  at  enormous  prices.  If  I  went  to  seek  my  fortune  I 
really  did  not  know  what  I  could  do.  Were  I  a  laboring-man 
it  would  doubtless  be  advantageous ;  but,  as  it  was,  I  had  no 
wish  to  go.  Mr.  Mason  smiled,  and  said  he  thought  I  was  quite 
right,  but  so  many  officers  had  asked  for  leaves  that  he  felt  dis- 
posed to  grant  me  one  also  if  I  wished  it.  Afterwards,  I  was 
somewhat  amused  to  learn  that  some  fancy  navy  men  who  had 
gone  there  found  that  the  only  way  to  gain  their  bread  honestly 
was  to  put  on  a  red  flannel  shirt  and  accompanying  garments 
and  serve  as  porters  in  the  wretched  shanties  called  hotels.  My 
classmate,  the  son  of  the  late  Francis  P.  Blair,  went  out  and 
became  a  pilot  to  take  vessels  into  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco, 
and  soon  made  quite  a  fortune  by  investing  his  earnings  in  lots ; 
but  the  poor  fellow  lost  his  health  through  exposure,  and  died 
some  years  after  his  return  home.  Other  officers  made  money 
by  investing  a  few  hundred  dollars  in  lots,  but  almost  without 
exception  they  returned  as  poor  as  they  went,  or  became  so  after- 
wards. There  were  two  or  three  exceptions,  however,  and  they 
were  physicians  who  had  a  professional  reputation. 


WARS  IN  EUROPE.  171 

The  year  1848  was  memorable  for  its  revolutions  :  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  Europe  it  seemed  for  a  time  that  thrones 
would  be  entirely  swept  away  and  popular  governments  estab- 
lished. In  a  year  or  so  it  became  apparent  that  the  emperors, 
kings,  and  dukes  were  again  gathering  force,  and  a  despotic 
reign,  for  a  time  at  least,  was  being  established  wherever  they 
had  the  power.  This  was  especially  the  case  in  Austria  and  in 
the  different  Italian  states.  In  the  autumn  of  1849,  before  I 
left  for  Europe  on  leave  for  some  months,  I  called  to  say 
good-by  to  Senator  Davis,  and  expressed  my  disappointment 
and  chagrin  at  the  downward  tendency  of  popular  government 
abroad.  I  lamented  that  Europeans  had  not,  apparently,  the 
faculty  to  govern  themselves.  He  replied  that  a  satisfactory 
and  good  government  was  a  complicated  affair;  that  with  us, 
even,  it  was  still  experimental.  We  might  hope  to  maintain  a 
popular  government  so  long  as  our  people  were  educated  and 
the  country  not  densely  populated,  but  under  these  adverse  con- 
ditions we  could  not  regard  it  as  assured.  The  expression  of 
this  idea  was  quite  a  shock  to  one  who  had  served  abroad  with 
pride  and  gratification.  It  appeared  to  cast  a  doubt  or  suspicion 
on  the  patent  of  nobility  that  seemed  vouchsafed  to  all  with  us, 
without  distinction  as  to  persons.  After  a  lapse  of  forty  years, 
and  looking  at  the  political  aspect  of  the  Christian  world,  I 
have  reluctantly  come  to  the  conclusion  that  what  Senator  Davis 
said  is  an  unhappy  and  portentous  truth  ;  that  popular  govern- 
ment can  exist  in  an  advantageous  form  only  when  the  people 
are  educated  and  intelligent.  A  mere  form  of  government  may 
not  secure  the  substance.  A  government  based  on  the  mere  right 
to  vote,  if  that  vote  can  be  rendered  valueless  by  fraud,  cannot 
be  called  a  free  or  satisfactory  government,  however  much  its 
machinery,  as  popularly  presented,  may  commend  itself  to  our 
sympathies. 

A  few  days  before  going  abroad  in  the  fall  of  1849,  I  paid 
farewell  visits  to  friends  in  Washington,  among  them  to  the 
family  of  the  late  Rear- Admiral  Dahlgren,  then  a  lieutenant, 
living  on  4J  Street.  A  young  lady,  a  near  neighbor,  well 
known  in  society,  was  paying  a  visit  to  his  family.  When  I 
was   introduced   she   asked  rather  brusquely,  "Are  you  Dan 


172  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Ammen  ?"  I  bowed  assent,  and  asked,  "  Are  you  not  Senorita 
Maria  Fulana  de  Tal  ?"  as  our  polite  Spanish  friends  say  when 
they  do  not  wish  to  give  names.  On  her  affirmative  reply  I 
expressed  my  satisfaction  that  we  had  acquaintances  in  common 
who  appreciated  us,  and  congratulated  myself  on  making  her 
personal  acquaintance.  Then  began  a  conversation  which  I  fear 
was  hardly  deferential  to  the  excellent  family  we  were  visiting ; 
our  discussions  were  diverse,  and  what  may  well  be  called 
"  chaff."  After  half  an  hour's  parley,  the  young  lady  told  me 
flatly  that  I  was  a  fool.  I  said,  possibly :  it  was  not  given  to 
fools  to  know  their  actual  condition.  I  had  to  thank  her  for 
her  great  candor;  up  to  that  time  nobody  had  stated  that 
opinion  to  me  so  unequivocally  and  frankly.  I  would  bear  it 
in  mind  and  endeavor  to  profit  by  it,  so  far  as  a  fool  could. 
Soon  after  she  took  leave  Dahlgren  was  disposed  to  apologize 
for  his  other  visitor,  but  I  said,  "  Not  at  all :  if  she  was  satis- 
fied with  the  evening's  entertainment  I  certainly  was  ;"  it  seemed 
to  me,  however,  that  we  both  owed  an  apology  to  his  family  for 
making  his  house  a  battle-ground.  I  mention  this  circumstance 
as  an  evidence  that  the  stately  politeness  that  was  supposed  to 
exist  forty  years  ago  was  not  always  observed.  I  never  had 
such  another  "  bout,"  nor  has  any  other  lady  called  me  a  fool 
in  plain  Anglo-Saxon.  I  have  not  borne  malice  for  the  candor 
of  the  young  lady  which  some  persons  would  have  done,  and 
indeed  may  have  profited  by  it,  but  doubt  the  fact,  for  people 
are  so  much  the  creatures  of  habit  that  a  mere  by-play  of  this 
kind  doesn't  seem  to  make  a  permanent  impression.  The 
reader  may  recall  the  advice  of  a  fond  parent  to  his  youthful 
son, — that  when  he  paid  a  visit  he  should  say  nothing.  The 
son  took  the  advice  literally,  and  neither  bowed  nor  smiled 
assent  to  the  conversation  of  the  young  ladies,  and  heard 
whispered  comments  that  he  was  a  fool.  When  he  saw  his 
parent  he  told  him  that  they  had  "  found  him  out"  notwith- 
standing the  strict  observance  of  the  advice  given  him.  So  it 
appears  there  is  no  rigid  line  of  action  that  one  may  observe  to 
prevent  this  adverse  criticism,  sometimes  cruel  and  unjust,  and 
sometimes  very  depressing  to  the  individual  to  whom  it  is 
applied.     As  a  maxim  I  would  say  let  both  men  and  women 


THE  GERMAN  LANGUAGE.  173 

hold  their  own  opinion  of  themselves ;  it  will  hardly  be  less 
flattering  than  that  of  other  persons,  and  may  be  quite  as  just ; 
at  all  events,  it  will  not  be  malicious. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Voyage  to  London,  and  Travels  on  the  Continent — The  German  Language 
— Arrive  in  London — The  Custom-Officer — Kamhles  in  London— Sail  for 
Antwerp — Captain  Fitzgerald,  of  the  British  Navy — Aix-la-Chapelle — 
Charlemagne — Frederick  Barbarossa — The  Cathedral  of  Cologne — Bruns- 
wick— Lessons  in  German — Rheumatism — A  State  Dinner  at  the  Duke 
of  Brunswick's — Visit  to  Captain  Gese  vault — A  Game  of  Chess — Baron 
Rudolphi — A  Christening — Baron  Humboldt's  Theory  of  the  Spread  of 
Yellow  Fever — Visit  Berlin — Call  on  Mr.  Hannegan,  the  American  Minis- 
ter— Leipsic  and  Munich — Ex-King  Ludwig  and  Queen — Duchess  of, 
Mecklenburg — Trip  in  a  Diligence — Genoa — Milan — Pisa. 

Late  in  October,  1849,  found  me  in  New  York  City,  with  a 
leave  to  visit  Europe  for  six  months  and  then  to  report  for  duty 
in  the  Mediterranean  squadron.  After  my  return  from  China  I 
had  provided  myself  with  German  books  and  studied  when  I 
had  leisure,  so  that  I  was  already  aware  that  the  language  had 
no  natural  distinction  as  to  gender,  that  the  article  aud  the  adjec- 
tive had  variations  quite  unknown  in  the  English  language,  and 
that,  save  in  the  utter  impossibility  of  laying  down  rules  for 
the  pronunciation  of  words,  the  English  language,  relatively  to 
German,  was  very  easy  to  acquire.  My  object  was  to  live  in 
Northern  Germany  until  the  expiration  of  ray  leave,  and  then 
go  to  Spezia  to  join  a  ship.  It  was  my  intention  to  take  passage 
in  the  steamer  Herman  for  Bremen,  but,  mistaking  the  hour  of 
the  vessel's  departure,  I  was  left  behind.  I  visited  the  packet- 
ships  at  the  wharves,  and  went  on  board  the  Victoria,  to  sail 
for  London  the  next  day.  I  met  Captain  Johnson,  who  com- 
manded, and,  being  somewhat  curious  to  see  how  such  vessels 
were  managed,  took  passage,  having  the  idea  that  she  was  a  fair 
sailer, — which,  however,  was  not  the  case  ;  but  Captain  Johnson 
was  an  educated  and  agreeable  gentleman,  and  the  voyage  was 


174  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE   NEW. 

pleasant.  The  movements  of  the  ship  were  quite  easy,  much 
more  so  than  those  of  vessels-of-war  carrying  heavy  batteries. 
We  had  half  a  dozen  passengers,  and  among  them  an  effeminate 
youth  of  New  York  who  affected  to  be  quite  a  sea-dog,  had  been 
abroad  before,  and  was  entirely  in  love  with  the  aristocracy. 

After  a  voyage  of  twenty-five  days  we  arrived  in  London,  and 
I  went  with  the  captain  to  the  London  Coffee-House  on  Lud- 
gate  Hill,  the  resort  of  captains  of  packet-ships  at  that  time. 
When  my  baggage  was  examined  my  books  were  carefully  looked 
over,  and  HerschePs  Astronomy,  being  an  American  republica- 
tion, was  confiscated.  "Georgia  Scenes"  was  critically  looked 
at  with  the  same  view.  I  told  the  custom-house  officer  that  it 
was  an  American  book,  he  could  not  confiscate  that,  but  I  would 
present  it  to  him,  and  that  I  felt  sure  if  he  read  it  he  would 
laugh.  He  did  not  take  it,  and  therefore  I  drew  the  inference 
that  he  did  not  wish  to  laugh,  and  was  not  willing  to  do  more 
than  take  a  quiet  smile. 

London  presents  many  objects  of  interest  to  the  stranger  which 
it  is  not  within  my  province  even  to  mention.  My  usual  walk 
was  from  St.  Paul's,  over  Ludgate  Hill  and  oat  Regent  Street ; 
and  I  noticed  one  circumstance  that  impressed  me  very  much : 
among  the  throngs  of  people,  there  was  little  haste,  and  no 
visible  expression  of  care  on  their  countenances,  as  is  the  case 
with  my  countrymen.  I  contrasted  this  with  the  hurried  gait 
and  anxious  faces  of  the  crowd  that  one  would  meet  in  a  walk 
from  the  Battery  to  Union  Square,  up  Broadway,  in  New  York. 
Doubtless  in  both  cases  many  would  be  passed  who  had  no  surety 
of  dining  satisfactorily,  if  at  all,  yet  in  London  I  met  none  who 
looked  hurried  or  anxious  as  to  what  the  day  would  bring  forth. 
I  looked  at  London  and  its  marvellous  aggregation  of  skilled 
labor,  its  teeming  population,  the  docks,  and  the  river  Thames, 
with  almost  as  much  wonder  as  I  had  felt  at  Canton  j  and  what 
sorely  puzzled  me  was  that  in  London  I  would  meet  persons  in 
humble  life  with  whom  I  would  speak,  but  should  have  regarded 
it  as  impossible  to  understand  them  had  it  not  been  that  I  was 
patient  in  the  belief  that  our  mothers  had  endeavored  to  teach 
us  the  same  language :  so  after  a  time  their  speech  was  intelli- 
gible to  me. 


A IX-LA-CHA  PELLE.  175 

I  left  in  the  Antwerpen,  a  small  steam-packet,  for  Antwerp ; 
the  captain  was  very  pleasant.  Head-winds  and  fogs  extended 
the  voyage  to  thirty-six  hours.  I  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
Captain  Fitzgerald,  of  the  British  navy :  he  had  fought  many 
battles  under  Nelson,  and  I  find  him  written  down  by  me  as 
learned  and  sensible.  Although  in  our  discussions  we  mutually 
found  fault  with  each  other's  country,  we  parted  friends,  and  I 
had  a  pressing  invitation  to  visit  him  in  Brussels,  where  he 
resided. 

Antwerp  was  remarkable  as  a  commercial  city,  and  has  in- 
creased wonderfully  since  my  visit.  The  need  of  Jand  and  the 
industry  of  the  inhabitants  are  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
meadow-lands  across  from  the  city  were  actually  fifty  feet  below 
high  water.  They  would  have  been  flooded  through  infiltration 
had  they  not  been  pumped  out  constantly  by  windmills.  The 
dikes,  of  necessity,  were  heavy  and  expensive,  to  resist  such  a 
hydrostatic  pressure.  From  the  top  of  the  spire  of  the  cathedral, 
several  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  on  a  beautifully  bright  day, 
I  looked  down  upon  a  perfectly  flat  surface  which  was  lost  to 
view  on  the  distant  horizon,  while  the  near  surroundings  were 
covered  by  cultivated  fields  and  clustering  villages,  and  beneath 
the  tall  spire  was  a  great,  well-built  city. 

Within  the  picture-galleries  and  the  churches  are  famous  pict- 
ures by  Rubens  and  Vandyke,  and  superb  carvings  in  wood,  and 
paintings  by  many  other  artists  of  note.  The  Spanish  features  and 
the  graceful  forms  of  numbers  of  the  young  ladies  reminded  me 
of  the  occupation  of  that  region  by  the  Spaniards  for  a  consider- 
able length  of  time  before  they  were  flooded  and  driven  out. 
The  clatter  of  the  wooden  shoes  over  the  cobble-stones  in  the 
early  morning  was  something  new  to  me,  and  this  noise  was  con- 
stant during  walking  hours  all  over  Northern  Europe.  It  does 
not  give  a  graceful  carriage,  but  it  insures  dry  feet,  an  advan- 
tage not  to  be  despised  in  a  cold,  damp  country. 

The  railroad  to  Aix-la-Chapelle  is  remarkable  for  the  number 
of  tunnels,  some  of  them  of  considerable  length.  The  rate  of 
travel  was  slow,  and,  as  we  passed  along,  the  men  employed  by 
the  railroad  saluted  the  train  by  bringing  up  the  handspike, 
spade,  or  other  implement,  as  is  done  by  soldiers  with  a  musket. 


176  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

With  the  increase  of  travel  this  mark  of  respect  has  probably 
been  abandoned. 

After  arriving  at  Aix  and  making  myself  comfortable  at  the 
hotel,  I  sauntered  out,  in  the  cold  clear  moonlight,  at  about  nine 
o'clock,  passing  from  the  new,  elegantly-built  city  into  the  old 
town.  As  I  passed  along,  I  heard  the  roll  of  a  drum,  and  as  I 
ascended  a  street  saw  an  open  square.  In  it  were  huge  pyra- 
mids of  what  at  the  moment  I  supposed  to  be  shells  :  on  a  nearer 
approach  I  found  they  were  cabbages,  and  above,  looking  down 
on  the  market-space,  was  the  bronze  statue  of  Charlemagne. 
There,  in  the  moonlight,  I  saw  his  palace  before  me,  and  near 
by  the  cathedral  where  he  had  been  buried.  This  was  in  814. 
An  iron  crown  was  upon  his  head ;  he,  seated  within  his  vault 
upon  a  marble  chair,  with  a  sceptre  in  his  hand,  and  there  he 
remained  for  three  hundred  and  fifty  years.  To  do  himself 
honor,  and  to  make  the  event  memorable,  in  1164  Frederick 
Barbarossa  disentombed  Charlemagne, — giving  his  bones,  save 
the  skull,  which  is  yet  there,  to  pious  persons  as  relics, — in  order 
to  possess  himself  of  the  rude  marble  chair  for  his  coronation. 

Those  who  are  particularly  interested  in  the  memories  of  the 
Rhine  may  read  Victor  Hugo.  I  quote  his  closing  description 
of  Aix  :  "  At  dusk  I  seated  myself  upon  a  green  bank  to  con- 
template Aix,  which  lay  beneath  me  in  the  valley,  as  if  floating 
in  a  vacuum.  By  degrees  the  evening  fog,  effacing  the  fringed 
roofs  of  the  ancient  houses,  blotted  out  the  sharp  outlines  of  the 
two  towers.  .  .  .  Only  two  masses  of  all  the  city  remained 
distinctly  defined, — the  town  hall  and  the  cathedral.  All  my 
thoughts  and  visions  of  the  day  now  rushed  anew  upon  my  mind. 
The  town  itself,  the  illustrious  and  symbolic  town,  seemed  to 
metamorphose  itself  under  my  very  eyes.  The  first  of  the  two 
black  masses,  which  I  still  distinguished,  became  to  me  an  infant's 
cradle,  the  second  a  shroud  ;  and,  in  the  complete  absorption  of 
my  soul,  I  seemed  to  expect  that  the  shadow  of  that  giant  that 
we  call  Charlemagne  would  gently  ascend  on  the  pale  horizon 
of  night,  hovering  between  the  august  cradle  of  his  infancy  and 
the  sepulchre  of  his  eternal  greatness." 

Passing  on  from  Aix,  I  visited  the  great  cathedral  of  Cologne, 
that  had  been  so  many  centuries  in  building.     When  there,  I 


RHEUMATISM.  177 

was  told  that  it  could  be  completed  in  twenty-five  years  by  a 
working  force  of  five  hundred  men.  It  was,  in  fact,  completed 
about  ten  years  ago.  From  Cologne  I  went  to  the  little  old 
town  of  Brunswick,  my  object  being  to  employ  my  time  in  study- 
ing the  German  language.  I  installed  myself  in  the  Reinischer 
Hof,  a  very  nice,  well-conducted  hotel,  and  arranged  with  the 
landlord  to  live  as  a  German  officer  of  my  rank  would  live  were 
he  at  the  hotel.  I  was  to  have  a  pot  of  coffee  with  hot  milk, 
and  bread  and  butter,  at  about  nine  a.m.,  dine  at  the  table-d'hote 
at  two  o'clock,  and  go  to  the  club  for  my  coffee  and  beer  in  the 
evening.  At  dinner  I  had  a  half-bottle  of  Rhine  wine.  A 
dozen  persons  dined  at  the  same  time,  and  we  all  endeavored  to 
speak  to  one  another.  There  was  an  old  gentleman  whose  daily 
conversation  to  the  ladies  was  in  relation  to  somebody  marrying, 
and  the  gossip  of  the  day. 

I  had  taken  letters  to  several  persons,  who  were  very  pleasant 
during  my  stay ;  but  December  is  not  a  cheery  month  in  Bruns- 
wick ;  my  room  and  alcove  were  heated  by  a  stove  with  peat  as 
fuel.  In  that  latitude  the  days  are  very  short  in  December,  and 
although  there  were  few  cloudy  days,  and  little  rain,  the  pale 
yellow  light  of  the  sun  for  a  few  hours,  and  the  almost  nightly 
fall  of  a  little  snow,  were  not  inspiriting. 

If  my  reader  has  ever  attempted  to  sleep  in  a  real  German 
bed,  he  will  appreciate  one  of  the  difficulties  of  sleeping  com- 
fortably or  healthfully  in  Germany  :  I  never  learned  how  to  get 
rid  of  the  superfluous  feathers  in  the  sack  which  formed  my 
covering,  nor  did  I  have  sufficient  force  of  character  to  dispos- 
sess myself  of  the  triangular  hard  mattress,  about  three  feet  in 
length,  which  made  it  impossible  for  me  to  sleep  lying  on  my 
side.  I  got  a  touch  of  the  rheumatism  that  clings  to  me  to  this 
day  and  comes  in  a  chronic  form  in  my  right  arm  and  shoulder, 
perhaps  growing  out  of  my  attempt  to  sleep  with  a  feather  bed 
as  a  covering.  I  found,  too,  that  I  Avas  not  gifted  with  a  facility 
of  acquiring  the  language  :  so  I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  to  Italy, 
in  the  hope  of  leaving  the  rheumatism  behind. 

I  had  been  told  that  the  usual  way  when  one  carried  letters 
of  introduction  was  to  present  them  personally  at  the  house,  not 
asking  to  see  the  person,  but  making  inquiry  whether  he  is  well, 

12 


178         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

etc.  Having  done  this,  a  day  or  so  afterwards  the  several  army 
officers  to  whom  I  had  brought  letters  called  upon  me  in  a  body, 
and  I  spent  an  agreeable  half-hour  with  them.  I  soon  returned 
their  calls,  and  was  treated  very  pleasantly  by  their  families.  The 
young  ladies  almost  without  exception  spoke  English  and  French, 
dressed  very  neatly  in  inexpensive  material,  and  wore  no  rings. 
Many  of  them  were  musical,  and  all  were  well  bred.  Some  of 
them  were  disposed  to  have  their  little  pleasantries  at  my  ex- 
pense ;  but  to  persons  who  go  about  the  world  this  is  amusing 
rather  than  annoying.  I  learned  afterwards  that  the  ex-officer 
who  had  given  me  letters  was  not  in  good  odor  at  his  native 
place ;  but  after  they  felt  sure  that  I  was  of  different  conduct 
and  knew  nothing  of  his  derelictions,  I  could  not  have  been 
more  charmingly  welcomed. 

A  few  days  after  I  wTas  located,  I  received  a  visit  from  the 
chief  of  police,  who  was  a  detailed  army  officer :  he  asked  my 
rank,  etc.,  which  I  explained.  I  produced  my  passport,  my 
leave  from  the  Department,  with  orders  to  report  for  duty  on 
its  expiration,  and  my  commission  of  the  rank  of  master  in 
the  navy.  He  expressed  his  satisfaction,  and  I  thanked  him 
for  his  visit,  and  remarked  that  such  verification  was  the  only 
way  to  prevent  gross  impositions.  In  two  or  three  days  I  was 
called  on  by  the  aide  to  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  who  brought 
an  invitation  to  a  state  dinner.  On  examining  this  part  of  my 
diary,  not  looked  at  before  for  more  than  thirty  years,  I  find  that 
the  guests,  to  the  number  of  twenty-five  or  thirty,  met  in  a  re- 
ception-room at  six ;  very  soon  the  duke  entered,  passed  around 
the  room,  and  held  a  brief  conversation  with  every  one,  and  with 
little  delay  led  the  way  into  the  dining-room,  having  with  him 
the  Prince  of  Saxony,  rather  small  and  stout,  with  a  pleasant 
face ;  he  was  in  citizens'  clothing,  as  were  the  duke  and.  perhaps 
half  the  company.  Both  the  duke  and  the  prince  had  half  a 
dozen  orders  on  the  breast.  Among  the  guests  were  Count 
Feltheim,  a  man  of  note  in  the  dukedom,  and  his  son  and  grand- 
son, who  were  officers  in  the  Austrian  army  and  had  gained 
rank  in  the  siege  of  Venice,  which  had  occurred  not  long  before. 
The  military  men  and  several  old  generals  who  had  served  with 
Napoleon  against  Russia  wore  their  swords  at  the  table  :  it  was 


VISIT  TO   CAPTAIN  GESE VAULT  179 

oval,  about  fifteen  feet  wide  and  probably  twenty-five  long,  with 
two  rows  of  superb  vases  with  flowers,  bonbons,  and  fruits. 
The  dinner  was  served  as  is  usual  on  grand  occasions.  The 
service  was  of  the  finest  Dresden,  and  the  spoons  and  forks  were 
of  gold.  After  an  hour  and  a  half  at  table  the  duke  arose,  and, 
with  the  Prince  of  Saxony,  preceded  the  company  into  the 
reception-room,  where  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  chasse  of  cherry 
brandy  were  served.  The  duke  informed  me  that  he  was  going 
to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  hoped  he  would  see  me 
on  board  of  my  frigate.  This  observation  gave  me  an  appre- 
hension that  my  grade  of  "  master"  had  been  regarded  as  in  the 
merchant  service,  where  the  captain  is  called  "  master."  I  spoke 
to  General  Ericsson  as  to  this  :  he  replied  that  the  duke  knew 
my  actual  rank,  and  that  it  was  only  the  royal  way  of  speaking. 

The  palace  of  the  duke  was  a  very  fine  building,  and,  to  all 
appearance,  fire-proof,  yet  twenty  years  ago  I  saw  an  announce- 
ment that  it  had  been  destroyed  by  fire.  The  dining-room  was 
large,  octagonal,  or  nearly  so,  in  shape,  and  finished  in  mahogany 
and  mirrors.  The  duke  was  about  forty-five  years  of  age,  pre- 
possessing in  appearance,  above  the  medium  height,  and  a  favorite 
with  those  who  were  near  him. 

The  next  evening  I  paid  a  visit  to  Captain  Gese  vault,  the 
aide  of  the  duke.  His  mother  was  Irish,  and  through  the  Ger- 
man I  could  see  the  mirth  and  warmth  of  the  Irish  gentleman. 
He  said  the  German  Parliament  wished  to  deprive  the  dukes  of 
all  power,  and  he  was  not  inclined  to  see  a  confederated  and 
limited  monarchy.  He  expressed  the  hope  that  England  and 
the  United  States  would  never  go  to  war,  but  added  that  should 
it  be  so  he  felt  satisfied  it  would  be  very  destructive  to  England. 
I  said  that  the  policy  of  our  people  was  one  of  peace ;  that  we 
were  content  to  surmount  natural  obstacles,  rather  than  the  un- 
natural and  generally  unnecessary  ones  of  war ;  that  we  were 
guided,  or  rather  governed,  by  the  acknowledged  laws  of  nations, 
and  it  was  too  obviously  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  to  maintain 
peace  with  us  to  suppose  that  she  would  provoke  a  war. 

My  relations  with  the  army  officers  and  their  families  were 
very  agreeable.  I  was  admitted  to  the  military  club,  to  their 
places  in  the  theatre,  etc.,  on  the  same  terms  as  themselves.    One 


180  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

even'ng  I  was  playing  a  game  of  chess  with  Colonel  Handel- 
mann,  one  of  the  heroes  of  Waterloo.  A  young  officer  came  in 
and  asked  me  to  go  home  with  him,  and,  as  our  game  was  some- 
what slow,  urged  me  to  finish  it  quickly,  which  I  did,  moving 
and  losing  piece  after  piece  rapidly,  expecting  to  lose  the  game. 
Finally,  to  my  surprise,  no  less  than  to  that  of  my  adversary,  I 
advanced  a  pawn  and  checkmated  him.  He  had  the  pieces  and 
I  the  game.  He  looked  up,  and  said,  "  Aber — aber,  dass  ist 
wunderschon  /"  It  is  the  only  game  of  chess  that  I  have  ever 
won  by  accident. 

Baron  Rudolphi  invited  me  to  the  christening  of  his  son. 
There  were  about  thirty  persons  present.  When  the  clergyman 
waxed  serious,  and  spoke  of  the  mutability  of  human  affairs, 
the  ladies  shed  tears.  After  the  ceremony  a  number  of  small 
tables  were  brought  into  the  room,  and  the  company  was  divided 
into  groups.  Soup  and  salads  were  served,  and  every  one  made 
merry.  After  a  fair  consumption  of  Rhine  wine,  the  colonel 
of  Rudolphi's  regiment  proposed  a  toast.  The  company  rose, 
whereupon  the  colonel  proposed  the  health,  long  life,  and  happi- 
ness of  all  present,  congratulated  the  parents  and  grandparents 
of  the  newly-christened  child,  and  hoped  the  young  Alexander 
would  be  as  great  in  the  field  as  his  forefathers  had  been,  and 
that  his  life  would  be  long,  happy,  and  honorable.  The  com- 
pany "  hobnobbed"  glasses,  the  toast  was  drunk,  and  then  we  all 
seated  ourselves.  When  an  acquaintance,  such  as  myself,  was 
invited  to  take  tea,  the  family  served  it  with  a  slice  of  lemon 
and  a  little  rum  in  it,  a  potato  salad,  and  a  sandwich ;  after  this 
came  ham  not  cooked,  and  sausage,  and  finally  sweet  cakes.     I 

was  much  amused  in  my  conversation  with  Baroness  W ,  a 

younger  sister,  very  bright,  and  disposed  to  laugh  at  rather  than 
with  me.  I  remember  the  whole  family  as  one  to  which  I  was 
indebted  for  much  kind  attention. 

The  three  Miss  Bruns  were  charming  women.  Their  father, 
late  chancellor  of  the  dukedom,  had  recently  died.  Their  mother 
was  also  highly  accomplished  and  agreeable  ;  they  were  the  only 
untitled  persons  whom  I  knew  in  Brunswick.  I  think  always 
with  pleasure  of  this  old  city,  save  when  I  remember  my  rheuma- 
tism.    My  acquaintances  were  persons  of  very  simple  habits  in 


CALL   ON  MR.  HANNEGAN,  THE  AMERICAN  MINISTER.  181 

life,  their  houses  uncarpeted  notwithstanding  the  severity  of  the 
climate,  and  they  occupied  their  time  usefully  and  were  alto- 
gether persons  such  as  one  feels  gratified  in  knowing  pleasantly 
and  without  formality.  The  city,  I  learn,  has  been  modernized  : 
when  I  was  there,  the  English  and  our  countrymen  rarely  came 
to  stay.  The  reader  who  wishes  to  know  of  the  oak  that  has 
stood  a  thousand  years,  of  Queen  Caroline,  and  of  many  sub- 
jects of  historic  interest  can  get  all  that  from  tourists'  guides. 

When  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  would  better  leave  for  Italy, 
in  the  hope  of  getting  rid  of  the  rheumatism,  I  determined  to 
pay  a  brief  visit  to  Berlin,  to  see  the  city,  renew  my  acquaint- 
ance with  Mr.  Hannegan,  our  minister,  and  offer  my  respects  to 
Alexander  von  Humboldt,  whose  popular  writings  were  well 
known  to  me.  His  "  Valley  of  the  Orinoco,"  as  a  descriptive 
work,  I  was  particularly  charmed  with.  It  was  somewhat  curi- 
ous that  his  supposition  in  relation  to  the  probable  engrafting  of 
yellow  fever  on  the  northern  part  of  South  America  and  over 
intertropical  America  was  at  that  time  being  verified  in  Rio 
Janeiro.  His  theory  was  that  the  irritability  of  the  European 
constitution  would  so  modify  the  type  of  the  disease  as  to  make 
the  natives  susceptible  to  it,  which  was  the  fact  just  there  in  Rio 
Janeiro,  it  being  then  epidemic  in  that  city  for  the  first  time.. 

I  visited  the  Opera,  admired  the  large  fresco  painting  of 
Guido's  Aurora,  at  the  entrance  to  the  new  Museum,  and  found 
everything  agreeable  but  the  climate.  Mr.  Hannegan  was,  un- 
happily, suffering  with  rheumatism,  and  confined  to  his  bed. 
At  his  request  I  went  to  his  hotel  and  was  with  him  when  not 
sight-seeing.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  ability  and  observation, 
and  gave  me  his  views  of  the  political  situation,  especially  of 
Germany,  expressing  his  sympathy  in  relation  to  German  unity, 
without  which  a  great  people  were  politically  powerless.  The 
petty  rulers  all  opposed  it,  for  the  reason  that  it  would  destroy  in 
a  great  degree  their  personal  importance.  It  was  not  brought 
about  until  eighteen  years  later,  and  could  only  be  accomplished 
as  an  incident  to  a  war,  and  only  given  solidity  and  permanency 
through  another  war,  not  resultant,  but  imposed  upon  the  Ger- 
man Empire.  There  were  some  thirty-six  kingdoms  and  duchies, 
political  centres,  with   only  Prussia  possessing  a  considerable 


182  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

aggregation  of  force,  yet  with  territories  geographically  separated, 
as  was  the  case  with  many  of  the  governments.  In  my  diary  I 
find  this  noted  as  a  proof  of  the  good  faith  of  the  German  char- 
acter :  were  that  character  different,  natural  boundaries  would 
have  taken  the  place  of  merely  conventional  ones ;  little  patches 
of  territory  here  and  there,  entirely  surrounded  by  the  territory 
of  another  power,  would  have  been  absorbed  in  the  common 
interests  of  all  the  inhabitants.  This  has  had  a  practical  reali- 
zation in  the  establishment  of  the  German  Empire  and  with  it 
a  material  force  that  will  hereafter  be  respected  all  the  world 
over.  As  the  German  character  is  not  aggressive,  and  as  educa- 
tion is  universal,  the  welfare  of  the  subject  will  be  looked  to  so 
far  as  it  can  be,  when  it  is  considered  that  defence  against  power- 
ful and  aggressive  neighbors  is  of  prime  importance.  It  has 
been  a  long  time  in  aggregating,  in  spite  of  railroads  and  that 
ready  intercourse  which  destroys  local  prejudices  in  promoting  a 
wider  community  of  interests. 

I  had  to  regret  that  the  absence  of  Baron  Humboldt  from 
Berlin  prevented  my  seeing  him ;  the  prospect  of  an  interview 
with  him  had  been  a  not  inconsiderable  object  in  my  making  a 
visit  to  the  city. 

I  found  in  travelling,  and  meeting  Germans  to  whom  I  would 
endeavor  to  speak  in  their  language,  that  I  was  invariably  ad- 
dressed in  French  to  free  me  from  the  embarrassment  of  speak- 
ing in  a  language  which  it  was  quite  apparent  I  knew  little  of. 
This  greatly  shook  my  resolution  to  continue  to  study  the 
language  during  my  stay  in  Germany. 

Not  long  after  my  return  to  Brunswick,  I  took  leave  of  my 
many  agreeable  friends  and  set  out  for  Italy,  tarrying  a  day  or  so 
iu  Leipsic,  and  a  longer  time  in  Munich.  I  happened  to  reach  the 
latter  city  just  before  a  grand  concert,  patronized  by  royalty. 
The  city  was  filled  with  the  beauty  and  chivalry  of  all  Germany 
on  this  occasion.  There  were  five  hundred  musicians  and  five 
thousand  spectators.  There  were  present  the  ex-king  Ludwig 
and  the  ex-queen,  King  Leopold  his  son,  and  the  two  princesses, 
then  just  verging  on  womanhood,  and  remarkably  beautiful,  as 
were  all  the  maids  of  honor.  This  latter  may  not  be  considered 
strange,  for  the  sovereign  had  the  kingdom  to  select  from.     The 


TRIP  IN  A  DILIGENCE.  183 

ex-king  Ludwig,  I  remember,  had  a  large  wen  on  his  forehead, 
and  flew  about  much  like  a  French  dancing-master.  When  the 
royal  family  entered,  the  audience  stood  up  to  receive  them,  and 
remained  standing  until  the  royal  party  was  seated.  The  queen 
was  bountifully  adorned  with  diamonds,  and  each  princess  wore 
a  sparkling  necklace.  The  maids  of  honor  wore  flower  orna- 
ments only,  and  the  public  gay  ribbons.  The  Duchess  of 
Mecklenburg  and  many  others  of  the  German  nobility  were 
brilliant  in  diamonds ;  but  I  may  observe  that  I  was  so  fully 
occupied  in  looking  at  the  bright  handsome  young  ladies, 
whether  decorated  with  flowers  or  ribbons,  that  it  was  only  as 
the  evening  wore  on  that  I  observed  the  gorgeous  diamonds  of 
the  old  ladies.  They  were  certainly  an  indifferent  compensation 
for  their  faded  charms. 

The  inhabitants  of  Munich  did  not  seem  to  have  a  distinc- 
tive national  feature,  as  the  North  Germans,  the  French,  or  the 
Italians  have,  but  were  apparently  a  blending  of  several  races, 
particularly  the  Italian  and  German,  with  the  Alpine  Tyrolese ; 
they  are  a  fine-looking  people. 

The  official  street  of  Munich  is  composed  of  very  fine  build- 
ings, and  the  works  of  art  and  galleries  of  painting  and  exhibits 
of  porcelain  attracted  my  admiration,  as  did  also  a  work  in 
bronze,  not  completed,  being  then  in  the  foundry,  wTith  many 
parts  ready  to  set  up.  It  was  typical  of  Bavaria,  and  now  sur- 
mounts an  arch  in  the  city  known  as  the  Brandenburg  gate-way. 
The  country  immediately  around  the  city  is  flat  and  in  the 
winter  uninteresting,  but  thirty  miles  away  are  the  Alps,  with 
their  peaks  of  ice  and  snow. 

I  left  for  Genoa,  Italy,  by  way  of  the  Brenner  Pass  through 
Tyrol  in  what  was  called  an  eilwagen,  the  equivalent  of  the 
French  diligence.  We  left  in  the  evening ;  about  midnight  we 
reached  the  high  grounds  where  deep  snows  obliged  us  to  sub- 
stitute a  sleigh  for  wheels.  I  noted  soon  after  leaving  the  city 
large  tracts  of  land  planted  in  trees,  a  culture  which  is  quite 
common  in  European  countries,  and  which  ere  long  would  be 
advantageous  over  a  large  part  of  the  United  States  were  it  not 
for  the  destructive  effects  of  fires,  generally  resulting  from  pass- 
ing locomotives. 


184  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

The  cold  was  intense,  and  I  had  not  taken  the  precautions 
necessary  to  protect  my  feet,  which  were  frozen  so  badly  as  to 
give  me  serious  annoyance  for  years.  Our  sleigh-ride  continued 
until  ten  a.m.,  when  we  again  took  an  ellwagen. 

The  upper  region  of  Tyrol  looked  very  cold,  and  the  gorge 
through  which  we  passed  was  so  narrow  that  it  seemed  as  though 
the  sun  had  never  shone  upon  it.  I  note  that  I  breakfasted 
more  uncomfortably  than  ever  before,  and  had  a  cup  of  coffee 
that  quite  astonished  me.  The  entire  road  to  Genoa  was  simply 
perfect,  and  the  scenery  over  the  mountainous  part,  so  often 
described,  superlatively  grand.  A  fellow-traveller  pointed  out 
to  me  a  hole  in  a  precipitous  hill  several  hundred  feet  in  height, 
and  at  its  entrance  a  crucifix.  "  That,"  he  said,  "  in  the  twelfth 
century  was  the  stronghold  of  King  Max,  a  Bavarian."  Where 
we  were  passing,  he  had  met  and  defeated  another  mountain- 
robber  with  great  loss  of  life  to  his  adversary.  My  fellow- 
traveller  lived  in  Innsbruck,  and  had  been  sent  for  by  the 
government  to  agree  upon  terms  for  the  construction  of  a  grand 
musical  clock  to  be  presented  to  the  Grand  Turk,  meaning  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey.  He  was  in  jolly  mood  growing  out  of  this 
distinction  and  the  probable  profit  that  would  come  to  him. 

Near  by  the  roadside  all  the  way  through  Tyrol  and  Upper 
Italy  were  many  little  boards  protected  by  a  box,  covering  a 
crucifix,  a  statue  of  a  saint,  or  a  picture.  In  others  were  in- 
struments of  torture.  We  arrived  at  Innsbruck  at  three  P.M., 
twenty-two  hours  from  Munich.  It  is  entirely  hemmed  in  by 
mountains ;  the  large  dining-room  of  the  hotel  was  filled  with 
officers  of  the  Austrian  troops,  then  occupying  that  region  in 
force,  and  indeed  the  whole  of  Piedmont  was  occupied  in  force. 
My  passport  was  examined  and  viseed.  At  five  we  left,  and 
had  a  postilion  mounted  on  the  left-hand  hind  horse.  The 
eilwagen — or  diligence,  as  it  will  be  called  hereafter — was  filled 
with  passengers,  and  I  rode  outside  with  the  conductor.  We 
had  a  bright  full  moon  and  very  cold  weather.  The  road  was 
excellent,  with  walls  to  protect  it  from  land-  and  snow-slides. 
The  Brenner  Pass  was  reached  in  about  four  hours,  at  a  height 
four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  After  passing  through  it,  the 
natural  descent  was  very  rapid,  although  the  road  was  made  so 


TRIP  IN  A  DILIGENCE.  185 

winding  as  not  to  give  very  steep  grades ;  we  would  cross  one 
mountain-torrent  after  another  on  excellent  stone  bridges,  and  far 
below  would  see  the  water,  white  from  the  precipitous  character 
of  the  bed  of  the  streams.  After  getting  down  the  steep 
mountain-side,  we  reached  the  head  of  the  narrow  valley  of  the 
Sugarina,  which  we  followed  to  Verona.  This  valley  and  the 
city  itself  are  subject  to  destructive  floods.  In  the  lower  part 
are  immense  white  chalk  cliffs  frequently  crowned  with  strong- 
holds of  the  olden  time,  or  with  more  recent  monasteries. 
When  we  bear  in  mind  that  every  cubic  inch  of  these  chalk 
cliffs  is  composed  of  thousands  of  marine  shells,  a  vague  idea 
is  formed  of  the  long  ages  of  the  world  during  which  the  laud 
over  which  we  journeyed  was  a  bed  of  the  sea. 

We  breakfasted  at  a  point  where  the  outlines  of  the  mountains 
over  which  we  had  passed  formed  a  grand  picture.  The  roofs 
of  the  houses  were  covered  with  boards,  and  huge  boulders  were 
placed  over  logs  confining  them  to  the  roofs  when  the  winds 
sweep  through  these  narrow  valleys.  We  heard  a  long  plaintive 
note,  not  unlike  the  "  yodel,"  and  on  inquiry  were  told  that  it 
was  the  prayer  of  the  peasants  before  their  breakfast.  The 
view  around  showed  small  cultivated  patches.  As  we  journeyed, 
our  language  had  changed  so  that  only  occasionally  I  found 
some  one  who  would  respoud  to  "  Ich  wiinsche  etwas  zu  essen" 
or  some  equivalent  sentence. 

We  reached  Verona  about  midnight,  and  with  difficulty  I  got 
into  the  mean  hotel  called  the  Torre  di  Londra  (Tower  of 
London),  where  no  English  and  very  little  German  was  spoken. 
I  was  shown  into  a  large  cold  room.  In  the  morning  I  had  a 
fire  made ;  it  was  something  to  look  at  and  give  smoke,  but  not 
warmth,  and,  after  I  had  my  usual  breakfast  of  coffee  and 
buttered  toast,  I  went  out  to  see  the  city.  When  I  wished  to  get 
my  ticket  for  Milan  I  found  they  would  not  take  Austrian 
money,  although  the  city  was  garrisoned  by  Austrian  troops, 
and  when  I  offered  gold  I  was  asked  and  paid  twenty  per  cent, 
discount.  My  baggage  was  little,  and  that  was  charged  for.  My 
hotel  bill  was  doubtless  four  times  a  fair  charge.  I  met  no  one 
with  whom  I  had  dealings  who  reminded  me  of  Shakespeare's 
"  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona."     On  arriving  at  Milan  I  found 


186  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

niy  Austrian  paper  money  was  at  twelve  per  cent,  discount  and 
my  gold  at  par. 

We  left  at  noon  for  Milan,  an  Austrian  officer  and  myself 
being  the  only  passengers.  He  was  a  large,  fine-looking  man, 
about  thirty-five  years  of  age.  In  our  drive  to  Milan  he  became 
quite  companionable.  He  told  me  he  was  a  Bohemian  j  but  he 
was  quite  unlike  the  "  Bohemians"  we  read  of  in  our  newspapers. 
In  leaving  Verona  we  passed  through  a  very  large  fortification,  and 
about  fifteen  miles  farther  to  the  westward  through  another,  at  Lago 
di  Garda,  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water.  For  ten  miles  we  skirted 
its  shore,  the  scenery  being  of  surpassing  beauty.  Beyond  the 
lake  towered  the  mighty  Alps  with  nearly,  perpendicular  face,  and 
crowned  with  snow  that  extended  far  down  the  mountain-sides. 

We  arrived  at  Brescia  about  seven.  My  Bohemian  friend 
asked  the  conductor  to  wait  for  him,  and  he  assented.  I  had 
reason  to  think  later  that  my  companion  was  an  officer  of  high 
grade,  and  that  his  request  was  equivalent  to  an  order.  On  my 
asking  him  if  he  was  going  to  dine  he  invited  me  to  join  him. 
We  walked  quite  a  distance  through  several  streets,  and  finally 
entered  a  wirtlishaus,  an  equivalent  to  the  French  cafe.  There 
were  two  large  rooms  filled  with  Austrian  officers  eating,  drink- 
ing, and  smoking.  The  rooms  had  no  ceiling  overhead,  only 
rafters  and  the  joists  supporting  the  roof.  We  sat  down  at  a 
table  ;  the  landlady  came  along  and  recognized  my  companion  as 
an  old  acquaintance,  the  servant-girls  all  rushed  to  the  table  to 
have  a  word  to  say,  and  he  had  an  impromptu  reception.  We 
were  served  with  sauer-kraut,  pork,  wine,  and  bread,  and  we  had 
good  appetites.  The  compliments  paid  the  landlady  and  her 
assistants  by  my  companion  were  very  much  enjoyed,  but  would 
not  be  "  in  form"  in  good  society.  The  officers  knew  my  com- 
panion also,  for  those  near  him  bowed,  but  none  of  them  ap- 
proached,— probably  on  account  of  his  rank.  He  was  altogether 
jovial  in  disposition,  and  when  I  suggested  that  the  conductor 
might  be  impatient  in  waiting  for  us,  his  manner  was  equivalent 
to>  "  Bless  the  fellow  !  let  him  wait." 

We  were  given  a  duet  by  two  Bohemian  women  accompanied 
by  a  harp.  How  that  wild  plaintive  melody  recalled  the  past, 
reminded  me  of  my  home,  told  that  happiness  was  not  a  thing  of 


MILAN.  187 

earth  but  of  heaven  !  When  the  last  sad  note  had  died  away,  my 
Bohemian  companion  remarked,  "  She  sings  with  much  feeling." 

After  we  had  sat  more  than  an  hour,  noting  that  I  was  im- 
patient, my  companion,  with  a  half-reluctance,  got  up  to  leave. 
We  paid  our  bill,  sixteen  cents  each,  went  out  into  the  cold  clear 
moonlight,  and  walked  to  the  diligence.  The  conductor  was 
pleased  at  our  arrival,  and  we  started  forthwith  on  our  journey 
to  Milan.  I  was  told  by  my  companion  that  we  would  be  ac- 
companied by  a  guard,  and,  looking  out  of  the  window,  I  saw 
close  behind  us  a  buggy  in  which  were  two  soldiers  with  their 
muskets.  Wre  drove  rapidly,  with  relays  every  ten  miles,  and 
our  guard  continued  with  us  until  we  entered  the  gates  of  Milan 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  My  companion  did  not  unbuckle 
his  sword-belt  from  the  time  we  met  until  we  parted.  It  is  a 
habit  with  German  officers  never  to  unbuckle  the  sword-belt 
unless  they  intend  to  put  their  weapon  away. 

As  we  drove  into  the  city  I  caught  sight  of  the  great  cathe- 
dral, and  after  being  put  down  at  St.  Marc's  hotel  I  made  my 
ablutions,  had  a  cup  of  coffee  and  toast,  and  went  at  early  day- 
light to  the  cathedral,  then  dimly  lighted,  into  which  persons 
were  passing  to  hear  mass.  When  the  sun  rose  and  its  first 
beams  entered  the  windows  high  up  in  the  building,  its  immensity, 
which  before  had  been  undefined,  became  faintly  visible,  and,  as 
the  light  increased,  actually  appreciable.  Whether  from  within 
or  from  without,  the  imposing  grandeur  of  the  cathedral  was 
overwhelming,  and  considered  as  the  work  of  men  for  genera- 
tions it  gives  rise  to  earnest  thought.  I  shall  leave  to  guide- 
books to  recount  its  history,  to  number  the  merits  of  some  of  its 
five  thousand  statues,  and  to  note  with  accuracy  its  immense 
proportions.  Before  leaving  the  city  I  again  visited  it  with  a 
renewed  feeling  of  wonder.  How  grandly  it  rises  so  high  that 
its  statues  seem  as  dwarfs,  and  on  the  ground  pass  along  those 
puny  vacillating  creatures  whose  kind  have  in  centuries  of  labor 
reared  this  wonderful  structure,  and  have  daily  entered  its  doors 
to  leave  a  part  of  their  load  of  sorrow  and  come  out  with  re- 
newed strength  to  battle  with  their  frailties  in  securing  the 
necessities  for  their  existence. 

Milan,  although  attractive  in  many  respects,  has  not  the  many 


188  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

objects  of  interest  that  pertain  to  many  Italian  cities :  the  sur- 
rounding country  is  quite  beautiful,  clothed  with  the  olive  and 
the  vine,  so  vaunted  by  Byron,  as  is  all  the  country  passed  over 
by  the  superb  road  leading  to  Genoa,  along  which  I  went  in  the 
diligence  with  another  large  conductor;  indeed,  they  were  in- 
variably of  that  build.  It  would  seem  that  lighter  men,  when 
it  was  a  question  of  thousands  of  miles  of  travel  yearly,  would 
have  served  the  purpose  advantageously.  A  hundred  superflu- 
ous pounds  might  have  been  spared  the  hauling,  and  had  the 
roads  been  indifferent  it  would  have  counted.  I  never  saw  a 
conductor  of  an  eilwagen  or  of  a  diligence  who  had  not  one-third 
superfluous  weight. 

The  day  was  beautiful,  the  diligence  was  large  and  comfort- 
able, and  I  was  the  only  inside  passenger.  On  my  journey  from 
Brescia  towards  Milan,  when  my  companion  had  a  guard  follow 
us,  I  had  a  heavy  pair  of  pistols  in  my  carpet-bag  ready  for 
use,  and  these  I  now  had  with  me  as  a  matter  of  principle,  for 
in  fact  my  pistols  were  about  all  that  I  carried  of  any  value. 
Passing  along,  at  Pavia  my  trunk  was  unlocked  and  opened  for 
custom-house  inspection,  but  it  was  not  examined.  The  night 
travel  to  Genoa  seemed  to  me  interminable.  In  spite  of  over- 
shoes and  overcoats  and  wine  when  I  could  get  it,  I  was  uncom- 
fortably cold.  My  feet,  that  had  been  frozen  in  crossing  the 
Alps,  were  much  swollen  and  pained  me  greatly,  yet  I  dozed 
from  time- to  time  from  actual  fatigue. 

At  day-dawn  we  were  on  the  high  grounds  back  of  Genoa. 
Hundreds  of  peasants  in  their  picturesque  garb  were  on  the  road 
to  the  city.  At  sunrise  we  passed  through  some  strong  fortifi- 
cations, and  saw  within  the  mole  two  of  our  vessels-of-war.  In 
my  diary  I  indulged  in  some  lines  which  are  too  "  spread-eagle" 
in  expression  to  repeat,  save  the  closing  sentence :  "  When  the 
Republic  extends  from  ocean  to  ocean  in  population,  and  has  its 
railroads  of  three  thousand  miles  in  length,  what  will  they  say 
then?"  Very  nearly  forty  years  have  passed  since  that  was 
written,  and  until  opened  by  me  for  transcript  it  has  not  been 
looked  at.  Many  lines  of  railroad  now  stretch  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific,  and  millions  of  industrious  and  intelligent  people 
are  spread  out  over  this  broad  and  fertile  land. 


GENOA.  189 

I  was  put  down  at  the  Hotel  Feder,  and,  having  had  a  fire 
made,  was  badly  smoked,  but  not  warmed.  The  bell  would  not 
ring,  even  when  my  strong  pull  broke  the  wire.  I  sallied  out 
and  found  a  servant,  who  understood  neither  English  nor  Ger- 
man, finally  got  a  wretched  breakfast,  and  endeavored  in  vain  to 
get  some  sleep.  I  sent  a.  message  to  my  old  friend  and  classmate 
Rolando,  who  was  serving  on  board  of  the  Constitution,  one  of 
our  two  vessels  within  the  mole.  He  was  soon  with  me,  and 
gave  me  all  the  news  of  the  past  three  months,  and  newspapers 
to  read  which  I  had  not  seen  since  leaving  London.  He  insisted 
on  my  going  with  him  in  the  evening  to  a  reception  of  the 
Marquis  di  Negro,  a  gentleman  of  large  wealth  and  liberal 
political  ideas.  His  house,  large  and  elegant  in  its  frescos  and 
appointments,  was  situated  on  a  height  commanding  a  superb 
view  of  the  lower  grounds,  the  harbor,  and  the  coast-lines.  The 
company  consisted  of  about  fifty  persons,  among  whom  were 
two  brothers  named  Guerriere,  intelligent  and  of  high  position  : 
they  had  been  driven  from  Lombardy  by  the  Austrians,  were  very 
earnest  in  their  republican  ideas,  and  distinguished  in  appearance, 
as  was  the  marquis  whose  guests  we  were.  The  Minister  of 
Finance  of  the  Pope  was  present,  and  the  greater  number  were 
men  of  position,  and  refugees  from  their  homes  in  Lombardy. 
A  prima  donna  and  a  young  violinist  gave  us  excellent  music, 
and  after  tea  and  cake  were  served  we  took  our  leave  at  eleven. 
The  marquis  and  his  agreeable  family  were  partial  to  our  officers, 
who  always  had  a  cordial  reception  at -their  house.  The  next 
day  I  went  on  board  of  the  Constitution,  and  met  many  old 
shipmates  among  the  officers  and  the  crew.  A  peculiarity  of 
navy  men  generally,  all  over  the  world,  is  that  they  are  prone 
either  to  swear  by  or  at  their  old  shipmates,  thus  disobeying  the 
command,  "  Swear  not  at  all."  This  being  brought  to  the  notice 
of  an  old  tar,  he  remarked,  "  I  don't  swear  at  all,  but  there  are 
some  people  you  have  to  swear  at."  His  sense  of  duty  demanded 
it,  and  he  swore  like  a  man. 

I  noted  that  the  women  of  Genoa  were  "  shockingly  ugly," 
which  may  account  for  the  cleverness  of  the  men.  It  is  a  recog- 
nized fact  that  what  men  are  is  in  a  great  degree  due  to  their 
mothers ;  and  the  Genoese  mothers,  being  ugly,  were  in  no  wise 


190  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

diverted  from  the  judicious  care  of  their  children.  After  voy- 
aging around  the  world  time  and  again,  I  do  not  think  they 
could  have  done  better :  had  they  been  good-looking  and  neg- 
lected their  children  it  would  have  been  far  worse ;  and  thus  it 
seems  their  ugliness  may  have  been  "a  blessing  in  disguise/' — ■ 
a  blessing  perhaps  that  they  would  have  been  willing  to  forego, 
had  it  been  a  matter  of  choice. 

The  streets  of  Genoa  are  narrow,  with  steep  grades, — so  steep 
that  carts  and  carriages  are  rare.  The  beggars  are  present^ 
and  they  become  numerous  as  soon  as  it  is  seen  that  alms  are 
given.  On  the  land  side  the  indentation  around  which  the 
city  is  built  is  surrounded  by  fortified  hills  of  considerable 
height,  several  hundred  feet  at  least,  and  from  these  hills  the 
views  are  exceedingly  picturesque.  Genoa  was  more  remark- 
able for  its  noise  and  music  than  any  other  place  I  had  ever 
seen. 

At  the  table-d'hdte  of  the  hotel  I  met  old  shipmates  and  had 
a  bottle  of  vino  d'Asti,  a  light,  sparkling  wine  of  excellent 
quality,  but  too  sweet  to  be  in  favor  with  many.  At  the  table 
was  a  Mr.  Hagerty,  from  New  York,  who  was  quite  amusing. 
He  said  he  was  in  search  of  the  picturesque,  and  wished  to 
know  where  it  was  to  be  found.  After  dinner  I  went  with  a 
brother  officer  to  visit  a  German  family,  the  Countess  Samo- 
san,  her  mother,  and  two  sisters,  the  younger  twelve  years 
of  age.  The  countess  was  talkative  and  polite ;  her  face  was 
a  perfect  model  for  a  painter, — her  eyes  and  brows  perfect. 
She  was  a  dSvote,  and  had  the  mistaken  idea  often  enter- 
tained that  a  willingness  to  die  for  a  religion  establishes  its 
truth. 

In  my  walks  around  the  city  I  went  up  the  hill  immediately 
west  of  a  small  stream  and  valley  on  the  eastern  part  of  Genoa, 
and  after  an  hour's  walk  had  a  magnificent  view  from  a  fortifi- 
cation, one  of  twenty  that  defend  the  city.  It  had  an  area  of 
about  thirty  acres.  I  dined  on  board  of  the  Jamestown,  one  of 
our  old  sloops-of-war  of  the  best  class,  and  was  then  put  along- 
side of  the  Corriere  Corso,  a  small,  dirty,  slow  vessel,  over- 
crowded with  passengers,  among  whom  were  many  of  our 
countrymen.     We  had  a  heavy  blow  soon  after  leaving,  and, 


PISA.  191 

making  little  headway  and  wallowing  about  all  night,  at  eleven 
the  following  day  anchored  in  the  Bay  of  Spezia.  Our  consul 
at  Genoa  and  family  were  on  board,  and,  annoyed  at  the  dis- 
comforts of  the  voyage,  endeavored  to  obtain  permission  to  land 
and  go  to  Florence  by  diligence :  it  was  impossible,  however ; 
even  in  mid- winter  pratique  would  have  to  be  obtained  before 
any  one  could  land,  and  that  was  never  granted  until  the  vessel 
had  been  in  port  twenty- four  hours;  and,  despite  the 'tears  of 
the  ladies,  the  captain  refused  to  remain  the  requisite  time. 
The  next  morning  at  daylight  we  left  the  port,  and  by  noon  had 
been  passed  through  the  custom-house  at  Leghorn, — a  verifica- 
tion of  the  proverb  "  The  more  haste  the  less  speed,"  had  the 
ladies  been  permitted  to  land. 

I  went  to  the  Hotel  Pescavera  at  Pisa  that  evening ;  the  land- 
lady was  pretty  and  obliging,  and  the  house  clean  and  comfort- 
able :  at  the  same  house  was  an  American  colonel  who  had 
never  been  assigned  to  a  regiment ;  he  was  a  grandson  of  Mollie 
Stark  who  would  have  been  a  widow  had  not  Crown  Point 
fallen  by  assault  during  our  Revolutionary  war.  In  the  evening 
we  went  to  the  Opera ;  although  the  troupe  was  considerable, 
the  singing  was  indifferent,  and  we  left  early. 

The  Leaning  Tower  was  visited :  the  foundation  of  this 
tower  settled  after  the  structure  was  commenced,  and  continued 
to  settle  during  the  construction.  Three  different  attempts  at 
restoring  the  perpendicularity  were  perceptible,  and  the  last 
elevation  was  nearly  perpendicular.  In  the  cathedral  we  saw 
the  lamp  which  suggested  to  Galileo  his  ideas  in  relation  to  the 
vibrations  of  pendulums.  t 

The  bronze  doors  of  the  cathedral,  the  building  itself,  and  the 
baptismal  font  are  all  objects  of  especial  interest  to  tourists. 
The  guide-book  gives  an  elaborate  description  of  the  Campo 
Santo,  the  burial-ground  of  the  lords  and  ladies.  Ship-loads 
of  earth  were  brought  from  the  Holy  Land,  and  in  this  the 
bodies  are  buried. 

The  whole  broad  valley  of  the  Arno,  from  the  sea  to  Florence, 
was  cultivated  like  a  garden,  and  was  almost  one  continuous 
vineyard.  Rows  of  beheaded  trees  serve  as  supports  to  the 
festooned  vines,  and  in  the  vacant  spaces  vegetables  and  grain 


192  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

are  grown.  Our  journey  to  Florence,  over  an  excellent  railroad, 
was  made  on  one  of  the  brightest  of  days,  and  an  open  window 
gave  me  my  introduction  to  neuralgia,  from  which  I  suifered 
intensely  for  several  days. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Florence— The  Flower-Girl — The  American  Colonel — Captain  Neuhauser— 
Spezia — Vesuvius — Herculaneum  and  Pompeii — Naples — The  Temple  of 
Neptune  at  Pesto — Temple  of  Ceres. 

On  arriving  in  Florence,  I  took  one  of  the  rather  crazy-look- 
ing single-horse  vehicles  and  was  driven  to  a  comfortable  hotel, 
where  I  had  a  bright  sunny  room  until  I  found  apartments  on 
the  Arno.  After  making  my  ablutions,  I  had  a  simple  luncheon 
and  an  excellent  glass  of  the  light  new  wine  of  Tuscany,  and, 
after  studying  a  map  of  the  city  to  inform  myself  as  to  the 
localities  I  wished  to  visit,  went  to  the  door  to  meet  a  person 
who  was  waiting  for  me.  It  was  not  a  detective ;  it  was  a  flower- 
girl  who  was  waiting  to  fix  a  boutonni&re  upon  my  lapel  as  soon 
as  I  should  come  out.  A  flower-girl  always  informs  a  stranger 
that  she  has  heard  of  him  through  some  friends,  and  begs  to 
express  her  gratification  at  his  safe  arrival  and  fine  appearance. 
Thus  greeted  and  decorated,  the  stranger  with  generous  impulse 
naturally  puts  his  hand  in  his  pocket  to  give  a  consideration. 
"  Not  at  all,"  says  the  flower-girl,  in  the  sweetest  of  tones  and 
with  the  brightest  of  smiles,  perhaps  adding,  in  a  subdued  tone, 
that  before  he  leaves  he  may  contribute  to  the  support  of  some 
people  who  work  in  the  garden,  so  as  to  enable  her  to  dispense 
flowers  to  agreeable  visitors.  She  may  be  a  girl  of  ten  or  fifteen, 
or  even  a  woman  of  thirty  years,  but  she  is  always  pretty,  and 
has  been  expecting  the  arrival  of  the  visitor.  Although  the 
flower-girl  never  leaves  Florence,  I  have  heard  of  no  instance 
in  which  she  gets  "left." 

The  streets  of  Florence  are  quite  narrow  and  the  houses  high, 
which  in  fact  is  the  case  with  all  old  parts  of  Italian  cities. 


CAPTAIN  NEUHAUSER.  I93 

There  is  much  to  see  in  the  Pitti  and  Uffizi  galleries  and  in  the 
Museum.  The  cathedral,  built  in  alternate  layers  of  white  and 
black  marble,  is  grand  not  only  in  dimensions  but  also  in  many 
other  respects.  It  was  my  habit  to  spend  several  hours  daily 
either  in  one  or  the  other  art  gallery  in  the  Museum,  or  in  visit- 
ing buildings  of  note.  This,  with  an  occasional  visit  to  the 
Opera,  and  a  frequent  attendance  at  the  receptions  of  Hiram 
Powers,  Mr.  Mosier,  Mr.  Chapman,  and  other  artists  of  note, 
left  little  idle  time,  and  that  was  taken  up  in  studying  French. 
I  took  quarters  overlooking  the  Arno,  usually  a  small  rapidly- 
flowing  creek,  having  two  high  stone  walls  some  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  apart  to  provide  protection  from  the  floods  that  from 
time  to  time  sweep  down  from  the  Apennines. 

Soon  after  reaching  Florence  I  had  my  first  attack  of  neural- 
gia, and  was  confined  to  my  rooms  for  a  week,  during  which  I 
suffered  intense  pain,  extending  from  the  jaw  to  the  temple.  A 
physician  recommended  the  application  of  a  hot  poultice  and 
leeches.  After  poulticing,  I  applied  half  a  dozen  leeches,  that 
fed  like  good  fellows  and  weighed  considerably  more  after  their 
feast  than  before  they  took  hold. 

Among  my  agreeable  acquaintances  was  Captain  Neuhauser, 
a  Hungarian  in  the  Austrian  army  then  occupying  Tuscany.  He 
had  the  usual  talent  of  his  countrymen  for  languages,  speaking 
and  reading  English,  French,  Italian,  and  German  with  fluency, 
and  was  well  informed  otherwise.  By  agreement  we  usually 
dined  together,  either  at  the  table-(Vh6te  of  one  of  the  better 
hotels  or  at  some  favorite  trattoria.  If  we  dined  at  a  hotel,  we 
were  content  with  the  wines  furnished  ;  if  at  a  trattoria,  we 
ordered  our  dishes,  and  a  half-bottle  each,  the  one  of  red,  the 
other  of  white  Montepulciano,  a  very  pleasant  light  wine  of 
Tuscany  that  is  used  either  the  first  or  the  second  year  after  the 
vintage :  indeed,  in  Spain  and  in  Italy  those  who  make  wines 
rarely  take  other  than  new  wines,  and  men,  women,  and  children 
always  have  their  wine.  A  drunken  person  is  never  seen,  unless 
he  is  a  foreigner.  My  habit  was  to  breakfast  at  the  Caffe  Donai, 
where  I  had  two  eggs,  two  small  rolls  of  bread,  a  little  butter, 
and  a  pot  of  chocolate :  this,  with  two  cents  that  I  gave  the 
waiter,  and  two  cents  to  the  beggar-woman  who  always  met  me, 

13 


194  THE   0LD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

made  my  breakfast-bill  fifteen  cents  daily.  That  beggar-woman, 
1  feel  sure,  regretted  my  leaving  the  city :  she  always  bestowed 
on  me  a  grateful  smile,  and  was  as  cheerful  as  her  occupation 
would  permit. 

When  Neuhauser  and  myself  had  dined,  which  was  at  seven 
o'clock,  we  went  usually  to  the  caffd  and  took  a  small  cup  of 
coffee  and  a  chasse,  for  which  we  each  paid  four  cents.  During 
our  intercourse  of  several  weeks,  I  never  paid  one  cent  of  his 
bill,  nor  he  of  mine.  Our  bills  were  brought  to  us  separately 
and  paid  by  each,  even  where  it  was  a  matter  of  but  four  cents. 
Nothing  is  more  disagreeable  than  the  vulgarity  displayed  by 
many  of  our  countrymen  abroad  in  insisting  on  paying  the  bill 
of  some  person  whom  they  have  met.  Occasionally  we  allowed 
a  colonel  who  had  never  known  his  regiment  to  dine  with  us, 
and  this  was  as  good  as  a  comedy.  He  was  a  loud  talker  and  a 
persistent  one,  and  made  the  American  eagle  soar  very  high  and 
screech  very  loud.  It  was  only  when  we  went  to  a  trattoria  that 
we  would  permit  him  to  join  us,  as  we  felt  that  we  had  no  right 
to  annoy  well-bred  people  with  our  amusement.  The  colonel 
was  undeniably  a  "  Down-Easter  :"  it  was  shown  in  his  appear- 
ance, in  the  sound  of  his  voice,  and  in  the  ideas  that  he  expressed. 
He  amused  Neuhauser,  and  me  also, — with  the  reservation  that 
I  felt  somewhat  ashamed  of  him  as  an  exponent  of  the  Yankee. 
He  carried  in  his  pocket  a  small  "  vocabulary  in  three  languages," 
so  convenient  to  travellers  not  gifted  with  enough  of  a  language 
to  make  their  wants  known ;  he  was  inimitably  droll  without 
intent, — without  even  a  suspicion  indeed  that  he  was  so, — and 
insisted  on  making  use  of  the  French  language,  so  far  as  the 
words  were  concerned,  with  English  pronunciation.  Spelling 
out  the  words  equivalent  to  an  English  expression,  he  would 
beckon  to  a  waiter,  and  say,  "  Garcon,  donnez-moi  du  beurre." 
Naturally  enough,  the  waiter  had  no  idea  what  he  meant,  and, 
in  his  perplexity,  would  say,  "  Quoi  f  which  wTould  lead  to  a 
repetition  by  the  colonel  with  a  little  variation  in  his  intonation, 
and  then  would  come  the  "Quoi?"  again  from  the  waiter. 
Neuhauser  would  offer  his  services  as  translator,  but  these  would 
be  respectfully  declined  with,  "  No,  no :  I'll  teach  him  by  and 
by."     After  a  time,  to  assure  an  actual  understanding  he  would 


CAPTAIN  NEUHAUSER.  195 

point  out  to  the  waiter  on  the  vocabulary  what  he  wished.  This 
was  amusing  at  times,  but  would  not  serve  for  an  every-day 
entertainment :  so  it  was  only  when  we  felt  a  little  humorous 
that  we  were  disposed  to  be  bored  by  the  colonel.  When  we 
left  the  trattoria  each  would  be  handed  a  bill  of  what  he  had 
ordered.  Usually,  including  wine,  it  was  from  forty  to  sixty 
cents. 

Captain  Neuhauser  accompanied  me  to  several  studios  of 
American  sculptors.  At  Powers's  we  saw  a  number  of  busts 
of  distinguished  Americans,  among  others  of  Jackson,  which 
Neuhauser  commented  upon  rather  unfavorably.  Powers  said 
not  a  word,  but  brought  the  plaster  cast  of  a  lion  and  held  it 
up  close  to  and  parallel  with  the  face  of  the  old  hero.  The 
resemblance  in  lines  and  features  was  remarkable,  much  closer 
than  one  would  have  thought  possible.  Neuhauser  smiled  at 
the  marked  resemblance,  and  was  assured  that  Jackson  was 
regarded  as  a  great  man  by  a  large  number  of  his  countrymen. 

Greenough,  Mosier,  Chapman,  Gould,  Gault,  and  others  of 
our  countrymen  were  then  at  Florence.  Some  of  these  had 
agreeable  families ;  the  others  generally  met  at  the  cajf&  in  the 
evenings.  At  the  Opera  I  heard  Clara  Novella,  &  prima  donna 
of  note,  sing  in  "  II  Puritani."  The  song  of  "  La  Patria"  was 
admirably  rendered,  with  a  grand  chorus,  which  was  smiled  at 
by  the  large  number  of  Austrian  officers  in  attendance,  as  the 
singers  advanced  bearing  the  Tuscan  flag.  The  Florentines 
were  very  much  excited,  and  there  would  have  been  a  row  had 
not  all  the  force  been  against  them. 

I  spent  an  agreeable  evening  at  a  reception  of  Mr.  Harvey, 
an  Englishman  who  was  passing  the  winter  with  his  family  in 
Florence.  At  that  time  there  was  quite  an  English  colony  in 
Florence,  but  few,  if  any,  Americans  other  than  artists.  I  was 
introduced  to  Charles  Lever,  whose  works  I  had  read  with 
much  pleasure,  and  could  not  but  agree  with  him  that  copyright 
laws  should  have  protected  his  writings  in  the  United  States. 
He  was  a  medium-sized,  portly  gentleman,  with  a  broad  agree- 
able face  and  a  pleasant  manner.  I  had  frequently  seen  him 
and  several  of  his  children,  some  of  them  on  pied  ponies,  riding 
briskly  along  the  Corso.     Altogether  I  found  Florence  socially 


196  THE   OLD   NAVY  AND    THE   NEW. 

pleasant ;  but  the  weather  was  cold  and  raw,  very  different  from 
the  winter  climate  of  Naples. 

The  early  spring  had  come,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  to 
Spezia,  where  I  should  have  more  time  for  study ;  I  accordingly 
bade  good-by  to  the  agreeable  families  I  have  mentioned,  and 
others,  left  for  Pisa,  and  the  following  midnight  took  diligence 
for  Spezia.  We  arrived  at  Pietra  Santa  at  eight  a.m.,  and 
breakfasted.  Everything  was  so  dirty,  however,  that,  while  it 
was  paid  for,  it  was  not  eaten.  When  the  diligence  was  ready 
to  go,  the  landlord  could  hardly  believe  that  I  would  be  willing 
to  go  on, — for  what  reason  I  could  never  conceive,  as  there  was 
nothing  there  that  should  interest  a  traveller.  I  was  imprudent 
enough  to  give  something  to  a  wretched-looking  beggar,  and 
was  soon  surrounded  by  a  crowd :  after  giving  all  my  small 
change,  and  others  still  asking,  I  gave  them  abuse, — having 
nothing  else  that  came  so  handy. 

After  two  or  three  hours'  drive  we  reached  Carrara,  the  great 
marble-quarry,  and  the  residence  of  a  considerable  number  of 
sculptors  who  do  not  design,  but  make  a  living  by  copying 
models  or  reproducing  works  ordered.  The  Aquila  Bianca  was 
the  only  hotel  in  the  place.  It  was  dirty  beyond  description, 
and  gave  me  a  full  appreciation  of  the  value  of  an  unbroken 
egg-shell  and  of  an  unpeeled  potato  when  cooked.  The  plates 
had  hardened  lumps  of  spinach  or  some  other  vegetable  on  them. 
The  American  consul  was  absent,  but  a  bright  young  Italian 
was  his  deputy,  and  was  good  enough  to  walk  with  me  at  his 
leisure,  although  I  had  a  "  commissioner"  who  had  served  under 
Napoleon.  He  pointed  out  two  large  Roman  fortresses,  over- 
grown with  ivy.  We  visited  the  early  home  of  the  Guelphs, 
a  building  by  no  means  grand,  either  in  dimensions  or  in  archi- 
tecture. An  old  building  said  to  have  been  originally  a  heathen 
temple,  and  subsequently  to  have  been  used  as  a  church,  had 
been  unroofed  for  centuries ;  near  the  entrance  were  two  very 
badly  executed  marble  statues,  said  to  be  those  of  pious  ladies 
who  had  been  benefactors  of  the  church. 

The  marble-quarries  are  up  on  the  hill-tops,  which  are 
quite  bare  of  vegetation.  Great  excavations  have  been  made 
here  and  there  in  the  rocks.     The  acclivities  are  steep,  and 


SARZANA.  197 

the  blocks  are  hauled  down  by  oxen  with  a  great  deal  of  labor. 
A  block  large  enough  to  make  an  ordinary  statue,  if  of  the  best 
quality  of  marble,  was  said  to  cost  two  hundred  dollars.  In 
the  workshops  at  Carrara  I  saw  a  plaster  cast  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  sent  to  serve  as  a  model  for  the  sculptor.  Washington, 
General  Taylor,  Nelson,  and  other  distinguished  personages 
were  there  in  marble. 

On  leaving  the  "  White  Eagle,"  I  wrote  in  my  diary,  "  With 
what  delight  does  one  take  his  seat  in  the  diligence  when  leaving 
a  particularly  dirty  hotel !  He  does  not  know  that  he  will 
arrive  at  a  cleaner  one,  but  has  much  to  hope  for."  The 
road  was  perfect,  and  the  country  cultivated  like  a  garden,  by 
women  as  well  as  men,  with  a  two-pronged  hoe.  Vineyards 
were  upon  the  hill-sides,  and  castles  of  old  crowned  their  sum- 
mits j  here  and  there  were  children  with  baskets  carrying  back 
the  soil  that  had  been  washed  down  from  the  hills  by  the  rains. 
On  the  heights  among  the  rocks,  where  there  was  soil  enough 
for  them  to  grow,  small  gnarled  olive-trees  were  seen,  distin- 
guishable by  their  bluish  foliage  and  their  contours,  even  at  a 
great  distance. 

A  two  hours'  ride  brought  us  to  the  town  of  Sarzana,  where 
we  stopped  for  half  an  hour.  There  is  nothing  of  interest  here. 
Along  the  road  to  Spezia  we  met  numbers  of  peasant-girls  going 
and  coming  on  foot,  some  of  them  bearing  bundles  of  vegetables 
or  other  products  to  a  market.  They  all  wore  Sarzana  hats, 
little  bits  of  things  that  would  scarcely  be  sufficient  for  a  large- 
sized  doll.  These  were  jauntily  pinned  or  stuck  on  one  side  of 
the  head,  and  the  owners  were  very  bright,  nice-looking  young 
creatures,  and  very  proud  of  their  hats,  which  was  the  one 
feature  of  their  dress.  Observant  tourists  of  years  gone  by 
could  tell  a  canton  or  district  in  Switzerland  by  the  dress  of  the 
peasant,  who  regarded  some  peculiarity,  like  that  of  the  Sarzana 
hat,  as  a  special  mark  of  distinction.  With  railroads  running 
through  Sarzana  for  many  years,  I  doubt  the  existence  at  present 
of  a  single  Sarzana  hat ;  perhaps  in  its  stead  one  is  worn  as  pre- 
posterously large  as  the  tortoise-shell  comb  of  a  belle  in  Buenos 
Ayres  so  humorously  mentioned  by  Darwin  half  a  century  ago. 
He  was  asked  his  opinion  of  it,  and,  bowing  respectfully,  said 


198         THE   OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

that  in  all  his  travels  he  had  never  seen  a  larger  or  more  elegant 
one. 

A  very  fertile  plain  lies  between  Sarzana  and  Spezia  ;  the  dis- 
tance between  the  two  places  is  nine  miles.  Just  before  starting 
in  the  diligence,  after  I  had  returned  from  a  caffh  I  was  accosted 
by  a  beggar,  who,  wTith  a  look  of  reproach,  informed  me  that  I 
had  given  him  a  coin  that  belonged  to  Tuscany  and  did  not  pass 
current  there.  It  was  out  of  my  power  to  change  my  coins  from 
one  province  to  another,  and  thus  an  inconvenience — perhaps  a 
loss — was  inflicted  on  the  beggar,  and  a  loss  to  myself  in  the 
discount  on  larger  coins. 

On  arriving  at  Spezia  a  naval  storekeeper,  an  old  acquaintance 
and  friend,  took  me  to  a  clean  hotel,  which  is  a  positive  bless- 
ing in  Italy.  Our  naval  storehouses  were  near  the  lazaretto, 
some  four  miles  down  the  northern  side  of  the  bay,  at  a  beauti- 
ful indentation.  There,  through  my  friend  Spaulding,  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  making  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Bolero,  his  son, 
three  charming,  well-bred  daughters,  and  a  bright  little  boy  and 
girl.  The  family  were  very  agreeable,  and  it  was  gratifying  to 
see  their  pleasant  home  life.  I  frequently  walked  down,  and 
was  joined  by  some  of  the  family  for  a  walk  farther  on,  to  Porto 
Venere,  or  elsewhere.  Porto  Venere  was  the  oddest  old  town  I 
have  ever  seen.  It  had  a  very  small  port  made  by  an  outlying 
island  just  without  the  bay,  and,  built  on  the  side  of  a  cliff,  the 
houses  on  the  one  street,  which  has  only  one  side,  have  their 
foundations  very  little  above  the  water  and  are  four  or  five 
stories  high.  The  entrance  to  the  town  was  through  a  small 
deep  arched  gate  built  from  a  house  on  either  side.  Over  the 
house  had  been  a  coat  of  arms  that  had  been  destroyed ;  the 
town  was  walled,  and  I  have  no  recollection  of  seeing  anything 
but  rocks  inside, — not  even  a  blade  of  grass.  The  single  street 
was  perhaps  three  hundred  yards  long,  terminating  at  the  foot 
of  a  promontory  overlooking  the  open  sea  to  the  north  and  west, 
upon  which  was  a  temple  of  small  size  that  many  centuries  ago 
had  been  converted  into  a  church,  and  was  then  roofless  and  had 
been  in  ruins  for  an  indefinite  period.  Looking  towards  the 
ruin  from  the  end  of  the  street,  on  its  right  was  an  old  Roman 
round  tower,  such  as  those  to  be  seen  along  the  coasts  of  the 


SPEZIA.  199 

Mediterranean.  While  engaged  in  an  endeavor  to  sketch  these 
buildings,  I  observed  a  man  patiently  waiting  under  the  lee  of 
a  rock ;  when  I  closed  my  book  he  offered  his  services  as  guide. 
We  ascended  a  high  hill  on  our  right  overlooking  the  town,  and 
saw  an  old  fortification  of  considerable  extent.  After  a  rather 
tiresome  walk,  my  guide  expressed  a  wish  for  something  to  eat : 
we  returned  to  the  town  and  entered  a  locanda,  or  place  where 
bread,  wine,  and  cheese  are  sold,  all  of  which  he  was  supplied 
with,  I  sharing  in  the  repast.  There  is  no  sauce  better  than 
that  of  San  Bernardino,  and  it  has  the  advantage  that  you  need 
not  carry  it  about  with  you.  The  inhabitants  of  Porto  Venere 
are  engaged  mostly  in  catching  anchovies,  and  are  wretchedly 
ragged  and  dirty. 

The  walks  over  the  hills  that  lie  around  Spezia  are  very  pleas- 
ing, but  if  the  pedestrian  strikes  out  without  a  guide  he  is  soon 
brought  face  to  face  with  stone  walls  enclosing  patches  of  olive- 
trees  ;  perhaps  the  walls  are  made  to  get  rid  of  the  stones  suf- 
ficiently to  plant  the  trees,  which  seem  to  have  a  hard  time  of  it 
from  lack  of  soil.  On  my  excursions  in  the  direction  of  the 
lazaretto  I  frequently  went  up  a  steep  ravine  that  led  to  high 
grounds.  Marble  rocks,  generally  black  in  color,  were  every- 
where. A  few  dwarfed  chestnut-trees  had  been  planted  between 
the  rocks,  and  a  few  neatly-whitewashed  huts  of  peasants  dotted 
the  hill-side.  A  thousand  feet  up  or  more,  and  the  glories  of 
the  view  repaid  the  toil  of  the  ascent.  The  peasants  gather  the 
brushwood  from  the  mountain-side  and  carry  it  on  their  backs 
into  town,  where  it  is  used  for  cooking.  Heating  the  houses  is 
not  attempted,  unless  by  a  few  persons  of  wealth. 

Whether  it  be  true  or  not,  the  traveller  all  over  Italy  is  told 
that  to  Napoleon  are  due  the  excellent  roads  between  the  differ- 
ent cities,  as  also  very  extensive  modern  fortifications  at  many 
points.  Near  the  entrance  to  the  Bay  of  Spezia  were  very 
strong  fortifications  that  had  afterwards  been  destroyed.  Al- 
though blown  up  by  gunpowder,  huge  masses  still  clung  together, 
a  proof  at  least  of  the  excellence  of  the  cement. 

After  a  tarry  of  some  weeks,  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  might 
as  well  go  to  Naples,  where  the  flag-ship  was,  and  where  there 
was  much  more  to  see.     To  effect  this  at  that  time,  although 


200  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

Spezia  was  a  considerable  city,  situated  in  a  populous  country 
and  gifted  with  one  of  the  finest  harbors  to  be  found  anywhere, 
it  was  necessary  to  go  to  Leghorn  to  take  a  small  dirty  packet- 
steamer  that  ran  once  or  twice  a  week  from  Genoa  to  Naples. 
After  arriving  at  Pisa  I  went  by  rail  to  Florence  to  pay  my 
respects  to  the  families  of  Powers,  Mosier,  and  Chapman,  all  of 
them  very  agreeable  and  attentive  to  strangers.  After  a  day  or 
so  I  went  to  Leghorn  in  time  to  take  the  steamer  the  following 
day.  I  met  on  board  several  pleasant  Americans,  and  an  ex- 
ceptionally charming  English  gentleman,  named  Atwater,  also 
an  old  Russian  lady,  with  her  daughter,  servants,  and  dogs. 
The  canines  received  the  unremitting  attentions  of  the  entire 
Russian  establishment;  and  when  we  reached  Civita  Vecchia 
and  they  disembarked,  I  lost  a  fruitful  source  of  observation 
and  amusement.  I  was  not  permitted  to  go  on  shore,  because 
I  had  not  the  vise"  of  the  Roman  consul  at  Leghorn.  So  far  as 
appearances  went,  however,  I  lost  nothing  by  remaining  on 
board.  We  tarried  until  evening,  and  then  with  a  rough  head- 
wind left  for  Naples,  where  we  arrived  at  ten  the  following 
morning. 

The  glories  of  the  Bay  of  Naples  none  will  dispute.  Vesu- 
vius in  the  distance,  but  looking  quite  near,  the  islands  in  the 
bay  of  picturesque  contour,  and  the  whole  outline  of  coast,  high, 
and  of  varied  outline,  make  it  an  ideal  spot  with  tourists.  The 
large  city,  too,  gleaming  white  and  built  partly  upon  a  hilly 
slope  rising  to  hundreds  of  feet  in  height,  is  a  pleasing  feature. 
Many  feluccas,  with  their  lateen  sails  and  long  yards  peaked 
high  above  their  masts,  sailing  here  and  there,  formed  a  pleasing 
object  of  animate  life,  and  a  dozen  heavy  vessels-of-war  of 
several  nations  gave  an  impression  of  force.  Away  over  on  the 
eastern  side,  near  Sorrento,  were  a  dozen  French  line-of-battle- 
ships  at  anchor,  plainly  visible  from  the  inner  part  of  the 
harbor. 

On  landing,  numbers  of  lazzaroni  were  to  be  seen  :  it  is  said 
that  they  have  disappeared  in  a  great  degree  from  the  city,  and 
that  the  low  filthy  part  has  been  regenerated.  It  is  probable 
that  a  great  number  of  these  persons  have  become  free  Ameri- 
can citizens,  and  at  present  exercise  the  right  of  franchise  with 


VESUVIUS.  201 

us.  The  beggars  were  quite  as  numerous  as  elsewhere,  and  up 
to  the  mark  in  insistence;  and  the  men  driving  the  one-horse 
conveyances  would  deliberately  drive  across  the  pathway  of  any 
one  who  preferred  walking,  so  as  to  cut  him  off,  and  make  him 
determine  to  hire  the  conveyance  rather  than  be  thus  annoyed. 

Naples  is  surrounded  with  objects  of  much  historic  interest, 
and  after  getting  apartments  in  the  Chiatomone,  I  set  about 
sight-seeing.  The  hotel  is  just  east  of  the  Villa  Reale,  the 
only  public  grounds  in  Naples,  set  with  trees,  and  a  favorite 
resort.  In  front  of  the  hotel  was  an  esplanade  sixty  yards 
wide,  faced  with  the  sea-wall,  and  beyond  were  the  open  waters 
of  the  bay.  My  quarters  had  been  the  rooms  of  Passed  Mid- 
shipman Bayard,  of  our  navy,  who  had  visited  Vesuvius  when 
it  was  in  a  state  of  eruption,  the  previous  February,  in  company 
with  several  other  officers.  A  number  of  heavy  pieces  of  rock 
were  thrown  up  high  in  the  air,  and  one  of  these  struck  him, 
causing  almost  immediate  death.  He  was  a  young  officer  of 
great  merit,  and  much  beloved  by  his  shipmates. 

A  few  days  after  my  arrival,  in  company  with  two  of  our 
officers,  I  left  soon  after  sunrise  to  visit  Vesuvius,  which  is  an 
object  of  great  interest  to  persons  who  are  strong  and  have  no 
dread  of  exertion.  We  took  a  carriage  to  Portici,  some  five 
miles  out ;  there  wre  mounted  horses,  and  began  ascents  of  steep 
grades,  until,  after  a  ride  of  several  miles,  we  reached  the 
Hermitage,  a  building  of  considerable  size.  From  that  point 
we  made  a  descent  into  the  valley  of  a  bifurcation,  or  rather 
gorge,  said  to  have  been  the  crater  formed  when  Herculaneum 
was  buried  by  material  which  hardened  into  a  solid  rock,  and 
Pompeii  was  covered  with  a  mass  of  ashes  thirty  feet  or  more 
in  depth,  as  found  after  a  lapse  of  nineteen  hundred  years. 
Having  arrived  at  the  foot  of  Vesuvius,  where  the  grades 
became  steep  and  the  ashes  were  a  foot  in  depth,  we  began  our 
ascent,  unaided,  save  by  a  guide.  Several  persons  who  carried 
leather  thongs  with  which  they  aided  visitors  by  pulling  them 
up,  especially  where  the  lava-blocks  were  abrupt,  insisted  upon 
accompanying  us,  and  finally,  after  we  got  two-thirds  of  the 
way  up,  became  so  importunate  and  troublesome  that  I  drew 
my  sword.     They  took  this  very  broad  hint,  and,  jumping  off 


202         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

the  lava-bed,  skirted  by  the  loose,  almost  impalpable,  sand,  they 
began  their  descent.  I  was  surprised  at  the  rapidity  with  which 
they  reached  the  foot  of  the  hill.  After  we  had  gained  the 
summit,  made  our  observations,  and  loitered  around  for  an  hour 
or  so,  we  "  did  likewise ;"  and  I  can  say  that  never  as  a  boy 
did  I  enjoy  a  slide  down-hill  on  the  ice  more  than  going  down 
Vesuvius  in  the  loose  volcanic  ashes. 

After  our  importunate  assistants  had  left  us,  we  continued 
our  ascent,  which  was  one  of  five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea- 
level,  and  probably  of  two  thousand  feet  above  the  point  where 
we  had  left  our  horses.  It  was  a  glorious  day.  I  find  a 
diagram  of  the  summit  and  an  account  of  the  ascent  in  my  diary, 
from  which  I  will  endeavor  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  what 
we  saw. 

The  pathway  near  the  mountain-top  leads  through  a  depres- 
sion in  an  old  crater ;  on  the  left  is  the  circular  contour  of  the 
summit,  sixty  feet  in  height.  It  forms  an  arc,  of  which  the 
low  pathway  is  a  chord,  one  hundred  yards  or  more  in  length, 
to  another  depression  through  the  old  crater.  After  arriving 
at  the  other  edge  of  the  old  crater,  we  found  the  mountain  very 
steep  and  composed  of  very  fine  volcanic  ashes.  Close  on  the 
right-hand  side  were  several  large  red  rocks,  tons  in  weight  and 
standing  breast-high  above  the  pathway.  Vapor  was  coining 
up  between  them,  and  they  were  quite  hot.  A  party  was 
engaged  in  roasting  eggs  placed  on  the  rocks,  and  it  was  a  quick 
operation.  Turning  abruptly  to  the  right  around  these  rocks,  we 
stood  in  front  of  the  new  crater.  Less  than  three  months  before 
it  had  sent  a  stream  of  molten  lava  for  miles  down  the  mountain- 
side, ingulfing  comfortable  houses,  vineyards,  and  trees.  The 
flow  was  not  rapid  after  it  had  reached  the  foot  of  the  cone,  so 
that  there  was  plenty  of  time  to  remove  household  effects  after 
the  lava  had  begun  its  descent.  The  outflow  was  twenty  feet 
deep  or  more  over  many  habitations,  vineyards,  and  orchards, 
and  from  the  mountain-top  all  along  the  devastated  region  for 
miles  away  the  hot  vapor  was  seen  rising. 

Looking  downward  into  the  new  crater  as  far  as  the  swirling 
vapor  would  permit,  which  was  at  times  to  the  depth  of  one 
hundred  feet  or  more,  the  regularity  of  the  deposit  of  ashes 


VESUVIUS.  203 

within  the  cone  was  remarkable,  and  the  deposit  of  sublimated 
sulphur  and  other  mineral  substances  was  so  bizarre  and  abun- 
dant that  it  resembled  something  got  up  for  scenic  effect.  We 
could  not  pass  along  over  the  hot  lava  that  had  been  ejected, 
and,  returning  on  our  pathway,  we  ascended  the  left-hand 
elevation  about  the  same  height  as  the  other,  and  looked  down 
into  a  large  crater  from  which  a  dense  column  of  vapor  was 
arising ;  as  it  was  wafted  to  leeward  by  the  breeze  we  could  see 
quite  a  distance  down  the  steep  grade  to  the  seething  lava  far 
below.  Perhaps  incited  by  the  guide,  and  assured  by  the  ap- 
parently sufficient  solidity  of  the  ashes  lying  within  the  cone 
near  the  summit,  I  started  down  within  it,  the  wind  bearing 
the  vapor  well  over  on  the  other  side.  At  a  distance  of  fifty 
feet  from  the  summit  I  found  the  ashes  far  less  compact  and  up 
to  my  knees :  it  was  not  an  easy  task  to  regain  the  top.  Had 
the  wind  set  the  vapor  over  me  it  would  have  been  a  question 
whether  I  could  hold  my  breath  sufficiently  long  to  reach  the 
top.  A  month  or  so  later,  when  at  Palermo,  I  read  an  account 
of  a  German  who  had  also  made  a  fool  of  himself:  he  went 
down  in  like  manner,  had  not  the  strength  to  regain  the  top, 
and  was  suffocated. 

The  view  from  the  top  is  indescribably  grand,  and  the  descent 
was  exhilarating  beyond  belief.  At  times  I  have  dreamed  that 
by  a  rapid  revolution  of  my  arms  I  have  raised  my  feet  from 
the  earth,  like  an  ostrich  who  uses  his  wings  only  to  lighten  his 
weight,  and  have  sped  along  with  wonderful  rapidity.  This 
was  almost  a  realization  of  such  a  dream.  With  our  left  hands 
upon  our  swords,  and  braced  well  back,  so  as  not  to  fall  head- 
long, we  started  down,  and,  gaining  assurance  after  a  few  leaps 
it  seemed  to  me  wonderful  what  extraordinary  leaps  we  could 
make.  Every  bound  we  would  sink  almost  knee-deep  in  ashes, 
but  that  was  no  hinderance,  for  we  would  slide  along  on  such 
a  steep  grade.  Certainly  I  was  not  a  boy  then,  but  when  we 
reached  our  horses  nothing  would  have  delighted  me  more  than 
to  have  had  another  lope  down  the  hill  without  climbing  it.  I 
would  have  been  happy  had  I  been  able  to  leap  all  the  way  to 
Naples,  instead  of  going  to  Portici  on  horseback  and  from  thence 
in  carriage. 


204         THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

On  our  arrival  at  Portici  we  went  down  into  the  amphitheatre 
of  Herculaneum,  which  has  been  dug  out  of  the  solid  volcanic 
rock  that  flowed  over  it  at  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  Pompeii. 
The  rock  is  quite  resonant,  and  the  rumble  of  carriages  passing 
overhead  was  almost  constant  at  that  hour,  it  being  a  favorite 
drive.  Large  arched  gate- ways  with  iron  gates  through  which 
are  seen  beautiful  grounds  extending  to  the  water,  a  hundred 
yards  beyond,  disclose  residences  as  charming  as  any  in  the 
vicinity  of  Naples. 

The  early  mornings  of  Naples  are  very  bright  in  May,  and  I 
enjoyed  them  greatly.  The  Neapolitans  move  about  early,  and 
begin  the  day  with  music  and  Punch-and-Judy  exhibitions  for 
the  benefit  of  foreigners.  Soon  after  sunrise  I  would  sit  on  a 
balcony  and  have  my  breakfast  served ;  a  Calabrian  band,  con- 
sisting of  a  bagpipe  and  some  other  instrument  equally  effective  in 
making  a  noise,  knew  my  hour  and  my  solid  appreciation  of  its 
efforts.  After  I  had  been  entertained  in  this  manner  sufficiently, 
the  musicians  left,  and  the  Punch-and-Judy  exhibition  began. 
This  was  conducted  with  great  spirit  even  for  Naples,  because 
the  actor  saw  I  appreciated  his  genius  and  was  willing  to  pay 
liberally  for  the  show.  Every  morning  it  was  the  same  thing 
over  again,  as  long  as  I  remained  on  shore.  An  English  family 
who  had  apartments  in  the  next  house  had  these  exhibitions  free, 
but,  somehow,  did  not  seem  to  relish  them.  They  may  not  have 
been  gifted  with  a  love  of  song  and  tragic  deeds,  as  done  by 
Punch  in  chaffing  and  finally  murdering  the  amiable  Judy,  or 
they  may  have  been  blast  The  organ-grinders  that  favor  us  in 
our  large  cities  and  towns  are  supposed  to  be  almost  without  ex- 
ception Italian,  yet  I  never  have  seen  one  in  Italy ;  they  may 
have  been  expelled. 

The  whole  vicinity  of  Naples,  far  and  near,  abounds  in  objects 
of  interest  and  beauty.  A  visit  to  Baja  (the  ancient  Baise)  and 
the  neighboring  hills,  some  dozen  miles  from  Naples,  on  the 
western  side  of  the  bay,  was  very  interesting.  The  locality 
of  Baja  is  beautiful.  The  large  temples  in  ruins  on  the  high 
grounds,  and  the  city  sunk  in  the  sea,  are  objects  of  note.  This 
event  is  mentioned  as  having  occurred  about  a.d.  79,  when 
Pompeii  was  destroyed.     Here  I  unexpectedly  came  across  the 


NAPLES.  205 

colonel  whom  I  have  already  mentioned  as  occasionally  dining 
with  me  in  Florence  and  as  never  having  been  assigned  to  a 
regiment.  He  was  investigating  the  state  of  trade  at  that  point, 
and  getting  some  information  from  fishermen  who  had  their 
boat  hauled  up  on  the  beach.  It  was  with  some  difficulty  we 
got  some  Falernian  wine ;  two  thousand  years  ago  this  wine  was 
famous  for  painting  the  noses  of  the  Eomans  on  grand  occasions. 
The  Elysian  Fields  were  not  at  all  remarkable  for  beauty,  nor 
was  the  Sibyl's  cave  a  spot  where  one  would  suppose  a  bright 
creature  would  be  encountered.  The  grotto  of  Posilippo  was 
rather  a  fit  lurking-place  for  wild  animals  of  an  amphibious 
nature  than  anything  else  :  if  it  were  in  the  land  of  the  alligator 
I  am  veiy  sure  it  would  not  be  frequented.  As  our  English 
friends  would  say,  fancy  being  mounted  on  the  back  of  a  man 
wading  through  water  knee-deep  in  a  cave  of  little  height,  and 
as  dark  as  midnight,  with  two  or  three  torches  of  pine  held  by 
bearers,  going  here  and  there  in  advance,  stifling  you  with  smoke 
and  actually  begriming  your  faces  almost  beyond  recognition 
with  the  soot.    I  did  not  "  fancy"  this,  nor  did  any  of  our  party. 

The  unassigned  colonel  had  read  up  on  Romau  history,  of  the 
wealth  and  grandeur  and  traffic  of  Baise,  one  of  the  proud  cities 
of  the  world,  and  was  mentally  depressed  at  what  he  saw  before 
him.  Fatigued  by  riding  on  horseback,  bedevilled  and  begrimed 
by  the  ride  on  manback,  he  presented  a  pitiable  spectacle,  and 
went  on  his  way  to  Naples  in  sad  plight. 

Several  officers  formed  a  party  to  Psestum,  now  known  as 
Pesto,  to  see  the  temples  so  venerable  in  years  that  the  date  of 
their  construction  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  time.  They  were 
known  as  ruins  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  and  have  remained 
with  little  deterioration  for  the  past  two  thousand  years.  The 
columns,  and  indeed  all  parts  of  the  structures,  are  of  good  solid 
sandstone :  were  they  exposed  to  the  climate  of  New  England 
they  would  soon  be  entirely  disintegrated,  through  absorbing 
water  and  freezing.  In  one  of  Wendell  Phillips's  lectures  their 
preservation  is  attributed  to  some  inherent  quality  of  the  stone, 
from  its  extreme  hardness  requiring  superior  tools  to  cut  it, — 
which  is- a  mistaken  idea. 

We  left  Naples  by  railroad  for  Salerno  in  the  afternoon,  and, 


206  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

as  the  distance  is  only  thirty-three  miles,  were  there  in  time  to 
look  up  anything  that  might  be  of  interest.  An  Italian  gentle- 
man who  lived  on  one  of  the  heights  upon  which  the  town  is 
partly  built  called  at  the  hotel  and  invited  us  to  his  house,  where 
we  spent  the  evening.  It  was  a  charming  spot,  commanding  a 
wide  view  of  sea  and  land.  He  pointed  out  a  very  large  in- 
trenched Roman  camp  on  a  height  near  by,  and  many  other 
points  of  interest.  The  water  at  the  head  of  the  bay  in  front 
of  the  town  is  quite  shoal,  only  capable  of  floating  fishing-boats 
of  large  size,  and  the  beach  was  strewn  with  smaller  ones  hauled 
up  on  it. 

We  made  our  arrangements  and  after  an  early  breakfast 
mounted  horses  for  a  ride  of  fifteen  miles,  taking  a  guide  who 
carried  our  bread  and  wine  for  luncheon,  the  country  along  the 
line  of  road  being  uninhabited,  or  nearly  so,  from  the  unhealth- 
fulness  of  the  climate.  The  only  habitations  we  saw  were  near 
a  river  within  a  mile  or  so  of  Pesto.  The  inhabitants  were 
evidently  victims  of  a  persistent  intermittent  fever.  A  boy 
about  fifteen  years  of  age  helped  take  us  across  the  river;  his 
eyes  had  the  peculiar  look  of  a  fever  patient,  and  his  scant  cloth- 
ing allowed  us  to  see  that  his  abdomen  was  fearfully  distended. 
He  seemed  not  far  from  idiocy  from  his  ailment.  We  were  told 
that  after  a  few  years  persons  become  acclimated.  The  ferriage 
was  effected  by  the  force  of  the  current,  not  an  unusual  mode  in 
our  country.  The  boat  was  attached  to  a  rope  the  length  of 
which  was  considerably  greater  than  the  width  of  the  stream, 
and  the  other  end  was  made  fast  at  a  favorable  point  above.  The 
sides  of  the  boat  were  held  at  a  favorable  angle  to  the  current 
by  means  of  two  ropes,  causing  the  boat  to  act  as  a  pendulum. 
On  recrossing,  of  course  the  side-ropes  were  readjusted  so  as  to 
bring  the  current  to  act  at  a  proper  angle. 

The  road  was  not  far  from  the  sea,  but,  as  the  country  trav- 
ersed was  a  broad,  flat  plain,  the  sea  was  not  always  in  sight. 
We  passed  large  herds  of  black  buffalo,  cared  for  by  people 
clothed  in  sheep-  or  goat-skin  ;  they  were  certainly  uncomfort- 
able garments  in  summer.  The  land  was  evidently  fertile,  and 
in  the  interior  were  very  pretty  abrupt  spurs  of  land  several 
hundred  feet  in  height,  partly  wooded.     We  were  told  that  these 


TEMPLES  OF  NEPTUNE  AND   CERES.  207 

were  free  from  the  malaria  of  the  plains,  and  had  a  considerable 
population,  and  that  persons  who  took  care  of  the  cattle  or  cul- 
tivated grounds  on  the  plains  went  on  these  highlands  to  sleep. 

The  temple  of  Neptune  at  Pesto  has  thirty-six  pillars,  all 
standing,  surmounted  by  an  architrave  and  frieze  of  the  Doric 
order.  Another,  less  perfect  in  condition,  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  temple  of  Geres.  Evidently  several  other  temples  had 
been  entirely  removed,  save  the  foundations  and  flooring,  and 
one  perhaps  was  in  the  process  of  removal  when  the  work  was 
abandoned.  It  is  supposed  that  a  Greek  colony  built  them,  at  a 
time  so  remote  that  nothing  is  known  of  them.  Two  hundred 
and  seventy  years  before  the  Christian  era  they  were  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Romans,  and  were  then  in  about  the  same  condition 
as  now.  In  the  ninth  century  they  were  in  possession  of  the 
Saracens,  but  through  all  the  mutations  of  their  known  history 
they  have  not  materially  changed.  The  only  person  Ave  saw  in 
the  vicinity  was  in  the  garb  of  a  priest ;  he  had  a  gun,  and  was 
walking  around  apparently  examining  the  foundations  of  build- 
ings that  once  had  been.  At  that  time  and  since,  brigands  have 
made  their  descent  on  visitors,  carried  them  off  into  the  moun- 
tains, and  held  them  until  ransomed.  We  were  by  no  means 
concerned,  for  they  knew  whom  to  attack  :  with  us,  they  would 
have  found  more  arms  than  money ;  had  they  captured  us,  it 
would  not  have  been  a  "  paying  business." 

The  temples  are  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  sea ;  whether 
the  deep  water  extends  near  the  shore-line  I  do  not  know.  It  is 
an  open  coast ;  there  is  no  shelter  from  a  westerly  wind,  although 
there  is  a  considerable  indentation.  After  spending  several 
hours  loitering,  we  mounted  our  horses,  and  were  at  Salerno  in 
time  to  take  an  evening  train  to  Naples  over  a  very  lovely, 
thickly-inhabited  country. 

At  that  time  only  a  small  portion  of  Pompeii  had  been  un- 
earthed. The  escarpments  showed  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet 
above  the  houses.  Their  dimensions,  as  compared  with  those 
of  the  temples  or  large  buildings  of  the  Greeks,  were  quite  in- 
significant. The  paintings  on  the  walls  were  wonderfully  well 
preserved,  and  the  marks  of  the  chariot-wheels  on  the  pavements 
were  as  distinct  as  though  made  the  previous  year.     They  were 


208  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

worn  several  inches  in  depth.  It  is  eighteen  hundred  years  since 
Pompeii  was  destroyed,  and  the  city  is  now  in  great  part  un- 
earthed. Vesuvius  was  not  known  as  an  active  volcano  in 
remote  historic  periods,  and  indeed  it  became  so  only  a  short  time 
before  it  destroyed  three  cities.  Afterwards,  for  a  great  many 
years,  at  intervals  it  has  thrown  up  great  masses  of  ashes  and 
stone,  but  no  lava ;  subsequently,  however,  it  ejected  lava  more 
than  any  other  material. 


CHAPTEK    XVI. 

Service  on  Board  the  Frigate  St.  Lawrence— Messina— Mount  Etna— Kob- 
bers— Burial-Vaults  of  the  Capuchins— Santa  Bosalia— Kemittent  Fever 
at  Palermo— The  British  Squadron — A  Lieutenant  Court-martialled  for 
Kissing— Bailroad  Travel  at  a  Penny  a  Mile— B.'s  Little  Joke— Bremer- 
haven — A  Country  Fair — Bremen — Sail  for  Home. 

About  the  last  of  May,  1850,  the  flag-ship  sailed,  the  com- 
modore leaving  orders  for  me  to  join  the  frigate  St.  Lawrence, 
which  I  did,  and  the  vessel  left  in  a  day  or  so  for  Messina. 
While  the  Mediterranean  in  the  winter  is  swept  by  heavy  gales, 
in  the  summer  either  calms  or  very  light  breezes  prevail :  conse- 
quently we  were  six  days  in  making  the  voyage  of  two  hundred 
miles. 

At  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles  Ave  could  see  Etna,  covered 
with  snow,  and  Stromboli,  sixty  miles  off.  The  latter  is  the 
highest  of  the  Lipari  Islands,  several  in  number  aud  all  volcanic, 
lying  near  the  northeastern  coast  of  Sicily.  It  is  a  beautiful 
bifurcated  cone,  two  thousand  five  hundred  feet  in  height,  nearly 
circular  at  the  base,  with  a  diameter  of  four  miles.  The  active 
crater  was  at  two-thirds  the  height,  and  at  very  regular  intervals 
of  time,  about  every  three  and  a  half  minutes,  a  bright  light 
glared  upon  the  sky  out  of  its  depths.  The  island  is  said  to 
have  about  twelve  hundred  inhabitants,  many  of  whom  are 
engaged  in  catching  tunny-fish,  a  species  of  mackerel  often 
weighing  a  thousand  pounds :  the  fish  is  very  much  prized. 

When  we  arrived  at  Messina  we  found  many  of  the  buildings 


MOUNT  ETNA.  209 

on  the  outskirts  loop-holed  for  musketry :  in  fact,  the  city  had 
been  so  recently  desolated  by  war  that  it  presented  a  sorry  ap- 
pearance. It  has  been  and  is  still  a  great  commercial  city ;  the 
streets  are  inviting,  Avithout  being  grand ;  unlike  Palermo,  the 
houses  are  usually  low.  The  surrounding  country  is  devoted 
to  the  culture  of  the  grape,  olive,  orange,  and  other  fruits,  and 
is  very  productive.  From  Messina  we  went  to  Palermo,  where 
we  tarried  several  days,  and,  after  a  brief  visit  to  the  Bay  of 
Cagliari,  on  the  south  end  of  the  island  of  Sardinia,  again 
visited  Naples,  returning  finally  to  Palermo,  where  we  spent  a 
fortnight  very  pleasantly. 

The  harbor  of  Palermo  is  crescent-shaped,  with  abrupt  hills 
of  considerable  height  surrounding  the  flat  ground  upon  which 
the  greater  part  of  the  city  is  built.  There  is  an  admirable  road 
to  the  palace  of  King  Roger,  built  in  the  twelfth  century,  some 
four  miles  from  the  harbor :  the  road  is  lined  with  habitations, 
and  is  very  attractive ;  at  the  palace  an  elevation  of  a  thousand 
feet  is  reached.  The  interiors  of  Sicilian  churches  have  a  simi- 
larity to  those  of  the  churches  of  Munich  in  the  beams  that  run 
across,  painted  in  bright  colors  and  ornamented  with  decorations 
of  similar  order,  the  rafters  upon  which  the  roof  rests  appearing 
above.  Many  of  the  churches  are  large  and  beautiful ;  and  the 
dwelliug-houses  are  quite  picturesque  in  the  large  balconies  which 
project  from  every  story.  The  streets  are  wider,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants, so  far  as  visitors  could  see,  more  cheery  than  those  of 
Naples.  There  were  numbers  of  small  ice-cream  shops,  and  in 
the  evening  these  pleasant  rooms  were  thronged  with  the  inhabi- 
tants, who  for  a  very  small  sum  were  supplied  with  delicious  ices 
from  Mount  Etna,  frozen  snow  being  brought  down  from  the 
mountain  in  large  quantities.  From  off  the  coast  Mount  Etna 
is  seen  in  grand  proportions,  and  far  down  its  sides  the  cone  is 
covered  with  snow.  It  has  a  height  of  ten  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  seventy  feet.  Tourists  who  went  there  at  that  time 
were  frequently  captured  by  brigands  and  held  until  arrange- 
ments could  be  made  for  the  payment  of  a  ransom ;  and  that 
naturally  made  pleasure-travellers  seek  other  routes.  Not  long 
before  our  visit,  a  man  of  wealth,  presumably  a  foreigner,  was 
captured  near  the  palace  of  King  Roger,  not  more  than  three 

14 


210  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

miles  from  Palermo,  and  held  for  what  his  captors  could  get  for 
his  release.  More  recently  the  authorities  would  not  permit 
them  to  pass  the  gate.  As  these  robbers  never  molested  the  peas- 
ants, and  as  their  members  were  from  that  class,  with  leaders 
better  educated,  their  bands  were  difficult  to  break  up,  even  in 
thickly-populated  districts. 

We  visited  the  burial-vaults  of  the  Capuchins,  underneath  their 
monastery.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon.  We  descended  a  stair- 
way of  perhaps  twenty  feet,  with  long  narrow  windows  at  the  top 
that  admitted  sufficient  light  to  permit  us  to  see  our  surround- 
ings. There  were  ten  thousand  bodies,  that  had  been  accumu- 
lating for  centuries.  Those  of  the  wealthy  were  in  boxes,  others 
were  put  on  shelves,  and  many  had  barely  standing-room.  The 
ladies  had  on  their  best  in  laces,  and  all  had  white  gloves.  The 
features  were  ghastly,  and  had  the  appearance  of  dried  parch- 
ment rather  than  of  decay.  A  burial  at  this  place,  or  rather 
lying-  or  standing-room,  was  obtainable  only  at  considerable  cost, 
and  I  should  say  was  by  no  means  desirable  either  for  the  dead 
or  to  their  friends.  The  damp  vaults,  with  the  foul  odor  they 
gave  forth,  were  not  at  all  inviting,  and  I  should  suppose  would 
be  hot-beds  of  poison  to  the  Capuchins  who  occupied  apartments 
over  them. 

The  Palermo  hospital  for  the  insane  was  quite  extensive,  and 
contained  a  large  number  of  inmates,  among  them  one  whose 
insanity  had  assumed  a  very  innocent  form.  A  fine-looking 
young  woman  was  brought  to  the  attending  physician,  who  asked 
her  what  she  wished.  She  replied  that  she  wished  to  marry. 
The  doctor  said,  "  Very  well :  let  us  see  how  you  will  conduct 
yourself;  if  you  aid  me  effectively  in  the  care  of  these  poor 
people,  I  will  marry  you."  She  accepted  the  provisional  offer, 
and  was  cheerful,  efficient,  and  well  behaved.  The  probationary 
term  was  indefinite,  and,  as  I  never  visited  Palermo  again,  I 
have  no  information  in  regard  to  the  wedding. 

One  of  the  sights  of  the  vicinity  of  Palermo  is  the  cave  of 
Santa  Rosalia.  Santa  Rosalia  was  a  daughter  of  King  Sinibald, 
a  monarch  who  reigned  in  the  twelfth  century.  Tired  of  the  van- 
ities of  life,  she  established  herself  in  a  cave  near  the  summit 
of  Mount  Pellegrino,  three  miles  from  Palermo.     The  moun- 


SANTA   ROSALIA.  211 

tain  is  quite  abrupt  on  the  sea-face,  and  forms  the  northern  part 
of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor.  The  ascent  is  made  either  on 
foot  or  on  a  donkey,  over  a  winding  pathway  many  parts  of 
which  are  cut  as  a  stairway  in  the  rocks.  It  was  the  first  time 
I  had  ever  attempted  to  ride  up  a  stairway,  but,  after  all,  it 
seemed  much  easier  for  me  than  for  the  donkey  upon  which  I  was 
mounted.  There  were  several  in  the  party,  and  we  all  got  up 
and  down  safely.  Coming  down,  it  seemed  to  me  that  should 
the  animal  stumble,  although  the  fall  would  not  be  from  a  height, 
the  donkey  being  small,  serious  injury  or  even  death  might  re- 
sult, from  striking  on  the  rocks  and  rolling  down  a  steep  hill. 

From  near  the  cave  of  Santa  Rosalia  the  view  extends  sea- 
ward to  the  Lipari  Islands,  Stromboli  being  about  eighty  or 
ninety  miles  distant ;  on  the  right  stretches  the  coast-line  towards 
Messina,  in  the  interior  Etna  is  visible  in  the  distance,  with 
Palermo  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and  to  the  westward 
is  the  high  indented  coast-line  of  Sicily. 

Under  the  shelter  of  a  huge  overhanging  rock  Santa  Rosalia 
is  said  to  have  passed  her  years  in  meditation  and  prayer,  dying 
in  1160.  Enclosed  by  an  iron  railing,  in  an  inner  apartment 
scooped  out  of  the  rock,  is  a  wax  figure  of  the  reclining  saint ; 
by  the  dim  light  of  a  lamp  we  could  see  that  she  was  clothed  in 
satin  and  ornamented  with  jewels,  which  were  said  to  be  of 
great  value,  the  offerings  of  those  who  had  escaped  great  peril 
through  her  supposed  interposition.  In  a  passage-way  leading 
to  a  small  chapel  there  were  several  pictures  representing  such 
interpositions,  lacking  artistic  merit,  but  strong  in  a  devotional 
spirit.  I  noticed  one,  of  a  woman  with  both  hands  upraised, 
looking  with  affright  at  her  child  falling  out  of  a  window. 
Santa  Rosalia  was  sitting  in  the  clouds  in  a  far-off  corner, 
supposed  to  be  warding  off  the  effect  of.  the  fall.  Another  was 
the  picture  of  a  gun  bursting  in  the  hand  of  a  man  firing  it, 
and  Santa  Rosalia  sitting  in  the  clouds ;  the  pieces  of  the  gun 
are  placed  there  on  exhibition  and  as  an  offering  to  the  saint. 

Our  party  walked  up  to  the  signal-station,  several  hundred 
feet  higher  than  the  chapel,  and  as  the  sun  went  down  into  the 
sea  had  a  glorious  view  of  earth  and  sea  and  sky.  Almost 
every  one  knows  that  it  takes  far  less  time  and  labor  to  go  down- 


212  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

hill  than  to  climb  up  ;  and  mounted  on  our  donkeys  we  speedily 
found  ourselves  in  the  level  part  of  Palermo.  My  donkey, 
having  done  very  well  up  to  that  time,  took  a  notion  to  flop 
down  and  roll.  I  was  imprudent  enough  to  allow  him  to  put 
his  nose  down  between  his  legs,  and  the  flop  followed  as  quick 
as  a  flash,  without  doing  me  any  injury,  however,  although  my 
leg  was  caught  under  his  side. 

We  were  in  Palermo  on  the  fete-day  of  Santa  Rosalia,  which 
for  centuries  has  been  celebrated  with  great  pomp  by  a  proces- 
sion and  fireworks  that  in  times  gone  by  were  unsurpassed. 
There  is  no  minute  description  of  the  procession  in  my  diary, 
but  I  recall  that  the  large  platform  upon  which  the  image  was 
placed  was  drawn  by  bullocks,  a  dozen  or  more  in  number. 
The  platform  was  twenty  feet  in  width,  and  the  top  of  the 
image  quite  that  distance  from  the  ground,  surrounded  half-way 
up  by  a  number  of  pretty  little  girls  dressed  in  white.  As  the 
statue  swayed  to  and  fro  from  the  inequalities  of  the  streets,  I 
feared  that  some  of  the  children  would  be  thrown  off;  but 
probably  they  were  more  secure  than  I  imagined. 

The  viceroy,  General  Filangieri,  who  had  paid  a  visit  to  the 
ship  a  few  days  before,  had  kindly  invited  the  officers  to  his 
stand  in  the  evening  to  see  the  fireworks.  He  had  served  with 
distinction  under  Napoleon,  and  was  still  vigorous  and  of  fine 
appearance,  with  two  beautiful  daughters.  The  framework  over 
which  the  fireworks  extended  was  several  hundred  feet  in  length, 
and  the  exhibition  continued  one  hour  and  a  half,  with  a  dazzling 
and  indescribable  effect. 

Although  we  were  almost  done  with  Palermo,  it  was  not  done 
with  us,  unhappily  for  many  of  the  crew.  After  we  sailed 
many  were  attacked  with  a  low  remittent  fever,  several  died, 
and  the  situation  was  serious,  with  a  sick-list  of  about  ten  per 
cent.  A  change  of  treatment  brought  them  all  up,  however : 
they  were  given  porter,  and  very  soon  got  better  under  the 
stimulant.  The  reader  may  remember  that  porter  was  ad- 
ministered on  board  of  the  Vincennes  to  a  small-pox  patient, 
perhaps  on  general  principles,  as  the  character  of  the  disease 
had  not  become  manifest  to  the  surgeon,  although  it  was  known 
to  every  one  else.     With  proper  treatment  and  diet,  and  atten- 


A  LIEUTENANT  COURT-MARTIALLED  FOR  KISSING.     213 

tion  to  ventilation  so  far  as  is  possible  on  board  ship,  the 
hygiene  may  be  excellent,  and,  barring  the  yellow  fever,  deaths 
on  our  vessels-of-war  may  be  very  few ;  of  this  I  propose  say- 
ing more  in  subsequent  pages. 

We  sailed  from  Palermo  on  the  17th  of  July,  passed  the 
rock  of  Gibraltar  on  the  31st,  and  entered  Lisbon  harbor  on 
the  5th  of  August.  I  had  been  there  in  the  Preble  nine  years 
before,  and  have  written  all  in  relation  to  that  city  that  I 
thought  of  special  interest.  Our  old  stamping-grounds  were 
very  pleasant  during  our  few  days  in  that  port.  The  British 
squadron  came  in,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  the  steam- 
frigate  Phaeton,  then  the  crack  ship  of  the  British  navy.  The 
forty  years  that  have  passed  since  that  time  have  witnessed  an 
extraordinary  advance  in  naval  architecture  and  in  marine 
enginery.  After  six  days  in  Lisbon,  we  sailed  directly  for 
Cowes,  where  we  anchored  for  twenty  hours,  and  then  left  for 
Bremerhaven. 

When  the  St.  Lawrence  was  lying  off  Southampton  the  year 
before,  Lieutenant  B.  and  other  officers  were  invited  to  a  town 
ball  where  the  elite  were  not  in  the  majority.  B.  was  always 
jovial,  and  at  the  ball,  being  in  a  window-recess  with  one  of 
the  ladies,  took  the  liberty  of  kissing  her.  He  said  that  she 
would  not  have  objected  at  all  had  not  the  curtain  allowed  the 
act  to  be  seen  by  the  company.  It  was  reported  to  the  captain, 
who  had  the  lieutenant  tried  by  court-martial :  he  pleaded 
guilty  to  the  charge,  and,  in  his  humorous  defence,  said  that  as 
long  ago  as  in  the  reign  of  George  the  Second  a  general  order 
had  been  issued,  which  he  caused  to  be  read  to  the  court,  to  the 
effect  that  "  his  Majesty's  sea-officers  were  strictly  enjoined  to 
be  polite  to  the  ladies."  It  was  his  desire  to  carry  out  this  in- 
struction on  British  soil,  although  of  course  it  was  not  manda- 
tory on  other  than  British  officers.  His  arguments  were  all  in 
the  same  strain,  and,  as  the  woman  was  full-grown  and  had  not 
suffered  bodily  injury,  B.  was  "  admonished,"  or  perhaps  repri- 
manded. 

Few  American  or  perhaps  even  British  readers  of  the  present 
day  know  that  forty  years  ago,  by  act  of  Parliament,  railroads 
were  obliged  to  carry  a  certain  class  of  passengers  at  a  penny  a 


214  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

mile.  This  led  to  having  a  train  of  open  cars  with  seats  as 
crowded  as  possible,  and  uncovered,  so  as  to  discourage  that 
kind  of  travel.  B.  wished  to  have  a  "  lark,"  and  went  to 
London  on  the  "  Parliamentary."  Finding  no  vacant  seats,  he 
assumed  as  stupid  a  stare  as  man  could  put  on,  and  in  the 
brogue  of  the  country,  as  far  as  he  could  master  it,  said  to  the 
men  near  him,  "  Well,  my  old  complaint  has  come  back  again." 
"  What  be  that  ?"  said  one.  "  Oh,  not  much,"  replied  B.,  scratch- 
ing between  his  fingers  vigorously  :  "  nothing  but  the  itch."  In 
a  few  minutes  he  had  all  the  room  he  wished. 

On  one  occasion,  when  the  vessel  was  at  sea,  he  dressed  up  in 
a  cockney  rig,  put  on  eye-glasses,  stuck  a  little  cane  under  his 
arm,  and  jauntily  entered  the  wardroom,  where  an  officer  was 
engaged  in  reading.  In  a  feigned  voice,  he  addressed  him : 
"  Beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  do  you  know  whether  Lieutenant 
B.  is  below  ?"  The  officer  was  startled  by  the  apparition,  and 
said,  "  He  certainly  was  here  only  a  moment  ago,  but  must  have 
gone  on  deck."  "  Ha !  ha !  I  caught  you  that  time,  Fox !" 
shouted  the  comedian,  taking  off  his  glasses,  and  allowing  his 
features  to  assume  their  natural  expression.  Had  he  gone  upon 
the  stage  he  would  have  been  the  equal  of  Burton.  We  had  a 
comedy  morning,  noon,  and  night,  whether  we  wished  it  or  not. 
B.  could  not  help  it.  Not  long  after  the  St.  Lawrence  reached 
home  he  was  gathered  to  his  fathers  after  passing  twenty-seven 
years  in  the  navy. 

When  at  Bremerhaven  I  was  invited  by  an  officer  in  the 
German  navy  to  go  up  the  river  some  fifteen  miles  to  a  country 
fair.  We  went  in  his  gig,  and,  although  the  weather  was  rainy 
and  the  ground  muddy,  the  booths  and  sights  were  so  novel  and 
curious  that  I  felt  amply  repaid  for  my  discomfort.  Many  of 
the  farmers  for  a  long  distance  around  were  there,  with  their 
wives,  sons,  and  daughters.  They  had  on  the  wooden  shoes 
usually  worn  in  the  country  ;  otherwise  they  were  fitted  out  in 
their  best  toggery.  On  one  side  of  the  room  were  a  few  of  the 
mothers,  and  the  stout  young  girls,  with  their  ruddy  faces  and 
their  keen  enjoyment  on  being  led  out  to  dance ;  on  the  other 
side  of  the  room  were  the  young  men  and  a  few  old  ones,  to 
chaperon  them,  perhaps.     There  were  many  pipes,  and,  what 


SAIL  FOR  HOME.  215 

with  the  tobacco-smoke  and  the  dust  arising  from  vigorous 
dancing,  the  atmosphere  was  not  one  for  dainty  people;  and 
indeed  none  such  were  there.  We  went  to  see  the  "  merry-go- 
round  :"  seated  in  one  of  the  cars  were  a  stout  country  lad  and 
friiulein,  and,  as  they  spun  around  so  that  they  could  not  have  a 
distinct  view,  they  imagined  that  others  could  see  them  no  better, 
and  regarded  the  opportunity  as  favorable  for  any  amount  of 
kissing.  It  evidently  was  mutually  agreeable,  and  the  young 
fellow  was  not  brought  to  an  account  for  it,  as  was  Lieutenant 
B.,  for  wishing,  as  he  said,  to  carry  out  the  instructions  of 
George  the  Second  to  be  polite  to  the  ladies. 

Bremen  was  reached  by  a  small  steamboat  in  six  hours.  The 
Bathhaus,  the  Dome,  and  the  Weinkeller  were  objects  of  special 
interest.  A  very  indifferent  bronze  statue  of  Boland,  son  of 
Charlemagne,  stood  near  the  Dome.  The  hotel  was  excellent : 
we  were  told  that  many  of  the  wealthy  citizens  sent  their 
daughters  to  that  kitchen  daily  to  learn  the  art  of  cooking, 
which  seems  to  many  of  our  countrywomen  of  comparatively 
little  value,  and  yet  it  concerns  the  health  of  the  family  in  a 
great  degree,  and  not  a  little  the  economy  of  living. 

Bremen  is  a  place  of  great  wealth,  and  seemed  to  me  more 
like  a  Dutch  than  a  German  city.  The  heavy  dikes  along  the 
coast  to  keep  out  the  tides  constitute  a  common  feature,  and  the 
meadows  dotted  with  fine  cattle  bordering  the  little  river  were 
quite  unlike  other  parts  of  Germany  that  I  had  seen.  Bremer- 
haven  is  to-day  a  live  city,  as  I  find  in  my  diary  I  supposed  it 
would  be,  having  grown  up  from  a  village  in  the  past  half- 
century. 

On  the  3d  of  October  we  left  for  home,  and  three  days  after- 
wards encountered  heavy  weather,  which  continued  for  two  days. 
After  my  experience  during  our  civil  war,  if  I  felt  any  doubt  as 
to  the  position  of  a  vessel  in  such  shoal  waters  I  should  anchor 
and  ride  out  heavy  weather,  as  we  did  off  the  Southern  coast 
for  four  years,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  vessel  during  all  that 
time. 

When  in  the  English  Channel  we  found  ourselves  too  near 
the  French  coast  through  the  set  of  the  currents,  and  had  to  carry 
sail  heavily  during  a  morning  watch  to  keep  off  the  coast.     The 


216  TEE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

eighth  day  out  we  passed  the  Scilly  Islands,  and  with  fresh 
easterly  breezes  we  were  soon  on  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland, 
after  which  we  had  head- winds. 

Early  in  November  we  hove  to  off  Boston  Light  to  get  in- 
structions, and  on  receiving  them  bore  away  for  New  York,  and 
entered  that  port  several  days  thereafter.  On  the  14th  we  got 
our  leaves  of  absence.  At  the  urgent  request  of  a  navy  friend, 
I  remained  in  New  York  for  several  days  until  he  could  come 
on  from  Boston.  On  his  arrival  I  found  him  in  great  distress. 
He  was  desirous  that  I  should  join  his  party  on  the  Coast  Sur- 
vey. I  insisted  that  he  had  been  on  that  duty  too  long, — that  he 
should  go  to  sea.  It  was  my  purpose  to  pay  a  visit  to  my  rela- 
tives and  then  to  ask  orders  to  the  first  frigate  bound  for  the 
Pacific.  He  was  much  affected  at  what  I  said ;  he  needed  me 
near  him,  he  said,  and  I  finally  agreed  to  go  on  survey-duty 
with  him  for  six  months,  provided  he  would  then  apply  for  the 
position  of  first  lieutenant  of  the  first  frigate  bound  for  the 
Pacific.  This  arrangement  was  carried  out  on  my  part,  but  not 
on  that  of  my  friend,  who  remained  with  the  Coast  Survey  until 
he  left  the  navy. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Pay  a  Visit  to  Ohio — Details  of  the  Trip — Throckmorton — A  Belle  at  Louis- 
ville— Chattanooga — Lookout  Mountain — Kenesaw  Mountain— Marietta 
— Atlanta — Macon — Coast-Survey  Service  on  the  Southern  Coast — Savan- 
nah— Captain  Maffit — Lieutenant  Anderson — Some  Keflections  on  Slavery 
— Mr.  Legare — A  South  Carolina  Secessionist — Special  Service  in  Cali- 
fornia— Site  for  a  Navy- Yard  at  San  Francisco — Senator  Gwin. 

After  being  prevailed  upon  by  my  friend  to  postpone  my 
desired  cruise  to  the  Pacific  until  I  should  see  him  out  of  his 
difficulties,  under  the  assurance  that  he  would  then  go  with  me, 
I  set  out  for  Ohio,  first  visiting  some  old  friends  in  Philadel- 
phia, among  whom  was  a  classmate  who  had  resigned  years 
before  and  was  pursuing  the  quiet  life  of  a  planter  in  South 
Carolina,  where  he  still  resides. 


DETAILS  OF  THE  TRIP.  217 

Passing  through  Baltimore,  I  enjoyed  several  days  in  the 
family  of  Mr.  Pike  and  his  charming  daughter,  the  wife  of  my 
friend  and  shipmate  Bowie,  who  was  then  in  California,  to  which 
State  he  subsequently  took  his  family.  His  wife  died  there  a 
score  of  years»ago  and  he  recently,  leaving  half  a  dozen  stalwart 
sons,  worthy  of  that  great  State,  to  mourn  their  father's  death.  My 
German  friend  G.  had  married  daring  my  absence,  and  I  arrived 
just  in  time  for  the  christening  of  his  son.  He  had  always  been 
devoted  to  music  and  society,  and  had  been  in  charge  of  a  topo- 
graphical party  on  the  Coast  Survey  for  years,  spending  his 
winters  in  Washington,  and  as  a  bachelor  was  as  happy  as  a  lark. 
No  matter  at  what  hour  he  came  home  from  a  reception  or  a 
party,  a  well-sharpened  pencil  and  a  note-book  were  industri- 
ously used  for  at  least  ten  minutes.  He  gave  me  his  favorite 
song  of  the  "  Silver  Bell,"  accompanied  as  of  old  by  his  guitar. 
He  died  a  few  years  after,  and  I  fear  his  interesting  note-books, 
covering  many  years,  were  thrown  into  the  fire.  Among  the 
charming  people  who  were  present  at  the  christening  was  the 
great  beauty  Miss  Moale,  who  some  years  later  married  General 
John  G.  Foster,  of  the  army,  who  commanded  our  land-forces 
in  the  Carolinas  for  a  period  in  our  civil  war. 

I  crossed  the  mountains  with  two  of  my  shipmates  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  both  of  whom  are  now  rear-admirals.  Dining  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  Father  McNally  was  more  struck  than  edified 
by  the  strong  language  of  a  future  rear-admiral.  On  arriving 
at  Cumberland,  which  poiut  was  at  that  time  the  railroad  termi- 
nus, we  took  the  stage  to  Wheeling.  An  Irishman,  a  fellow- 
passenger,  informed  us  with  an  air  of  satisfaction  that  he  weighed 
two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  pounds :  in  the  slang  of  to-day,  he 
certainly  got  "  the  pull"  on  the  stage  company.  He  had  two 
companions,  one  of  whom  in  conversation  said  that  the  22d  of 
March  and  the  22d  of  September  were  the  equinoxes.  The 
stout  man  assured  him  that  he  was  in  error,  that  "  the  equinoxes 
were  that  spot  on  the  globe  where  the  sun  would  shine  straight 
down  into  a  well."  Such  conversation  served  greatly  to  enliven 
the  rough  and  uncomfortable  journey  to  Wheeling. 

On  the  morning  after  our  arrival  we  took  passage  on  the  daily 
packet  to  Cincinnati,  and  were  pleased  to  meet  Colonel  Rowan, 


218  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

of  Kentucky,  our  late  minister  to  Naples,  and  his  travelling- 
companions,  General  Howard,  and  John  P.  Kennedy,  of  Balti- 
more, afterwards  an  excellent  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  then 
widely  known  as  the  author  of  "  Horse-Shoe  Robinson,"  a  novel 
that  has  survived  the  popularity  of  a  day.  • 

On  arriving  at  Cincinnati  I  passed  a  month  pleasantly  enough 
visiting  relatives,  a  part  of  the  time  with  Thomas  Henry  Yeat- 
man,  four  miles  below  the  city,  in  whose  hospitable  house  I  had 
from  my  childhood  spent  many  happy  days.  Then,  under  orders, 
I  joined  the  surveying-schooner  Gallatin,  at  Savannah,  Georgia. 
I  left  in  the  Louisville  packet  on  the  26th  of  December ;  the 
day  was  clear  and  cold,  the  ground  covered  deeply  with  snow, 
and  the  river  in  a  high  stage  of  muddy  water.  We  soon  left 
the  city  behind  us,  and  as  the  houses  faded  from  the  view  I  felt 
sad  enough  in  the  reflection  that  for  three  years  at  least  the 
"  good  times  would  not  come  again. " 

The  steam-packets  at  that  day  were  swift,  and  with  the  ac- 
celeration of  a  strong  current  we  were  soon  at  Louisville.  I 
put  up  at  the  Gait  House,  where  I  met  Throckmorton,  an  ex- 
midshipman,  whom  I  once  had  the  honor  to  take  to  the  side  of 
the  French  frigate  Gloire  on  the  occasion  of  a  grand  ball,  with 
"  John  Hogan  from  the  South,"  as  he  styled  himself,  and  the 
charming  young  ladies,  and  their  sententious  mother,  whose  sense 
of  smell  at  once  condemned  my  boat  and  led  to  remarks  by 
no  means  complimentary  to  her  conveyance.  The  examination 
stood  in  the  way  of  Throck,  and  he  went  back  to  his  friends  a 
perfect  ideal  beau  of  the  day  in  that  region.  He  was  large, 
rather  too  heavily  built,  and  good-looking,  with  a  self-assurance 
bordering  on  arrogance,  but  withal  courteous  in  manner.  He 
had  several  duels  when  in  the  navy,  and  on  one  occasion  after 
exchanging  shots  immediately  sang  out,  in  a  loud  tone,  "  Any- 
body hurt  ?  I  shot  at  a  bird."  "  No,"  replied  his  antagonist ; 
"  and  I  shot  at  a  blessed  fool."  The  latter  was  styled  "  Bird" 
from  the  fact  that  on  one  occasion  shortly  after  he  entered  the 
service,  while  still  quite  small,  and  lying  sea-sick  on  the  top- 
gallant-forecastle, a  malicious  little  fellow  pointed  out  a  school 
of  flying-fish  that  had  just  risen  out  of  the  wrater,  and  asked 
him  if  he  did  not  think  them  very  pretty  birds,  to  which  he 


THROCKMORTON.  219 

replied  affirmatively.  He  was  known  thereafter  as  "  Bird ;" 
and  his  resenting  Throck's  impertinence  in  so  addressing  him 
led  to  the  duel. 

Although  Throck  had  no  objection  to  fighting  a  duel,  he  had 
a  mortal  fear  of  ghosts,  and  it  was  said  would  not  on  any  ac- 
count go  into  an  unlighted  room  nor  traverse  a  wood  after  dark. 
He  introduced  me  to  Captain  Vernon,  who  had  been  a  volunteer 
in  the  Mexican  war,  then  lately  ended,  and  who  was  a  hand- 
some, well-bred  gentleman  of  thirty-five,  devoted  to  society.  He 
importuned  me  to  go  with  him  to  call  on  a  famous  belle  of  that 
city  who  had  been  recently  divorced.  We  were  entertained  by 
her  charming  conversational  powers;  among  other  topics,  she 
discussed  theatrical  affairs  at  Louisville,  and  considered  the  per- 
formances admirable.  As  we  left,  Mrs.  W.  was  good  enough  to 
suggest  that  she  would  be  pleased  to  see  me  at  the  theatre  in  the 
evening. 

After  two  days'  detention,  I  set  out  in  the  packet-steamboat 
Simpson  for  Tuscumbia,  well  up  on  the  Cumberland  River. 
The  boat  was  passably  comfortable,  and  I  had  occasion  again  to 
remark  the  universality  of  steamboat  manners  on  the  Mississippi 
and  its  affluents,  as  marked  as  the  manners  of  ball-rooms  or  of 
public  assemblages.  To  persons  whose  every-day  life  brings 
them  in  contact  with  others,  "  manners,"  in  the  acceptation  here 
employed,  are  imperceptible.  But  in  the  case  of  persons  who 
rarely  leave  home,  the  voyage  on  a  steamboat  greatly  impresses 
them,  and  they  not  only  put  on  their  most  gorgeous  attire,  but 
supplement  it  with  a  stately  air.  When  at  table,  the  nearer  they 
are  seated  to  the  captain  the  greater  the  honor,  and  they  break- 
fast or  dine  with  a  solemnity  befitting  a  memorable  occasion. 
There  is  to  them  an  air  of  superlative  luxury  in  the  stately  halls 
and  service  at  table  on  board  of  the  boat  that  impresses  them, 
aided  doubtless  by  the  majesty  with  which  they  traverse  the 
waters  in  a  floating  house  of  several  stories,  emblazoned  by 
many  mirrors.  I  heard  an  honest  countrywoman  remark  in  the 
cabin  that  she  thought  any  one  who  could  not  be  happy  there 
could  not  be  happy  anywhere  on  earth. 

We  were  four  days  in  reaching  Eastport,  and  the  stage  of 
water  made  that  the  termination  of  her  voyage.     After  a  deten-  • 


220         THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

tion  of  twenty-four  hours,  we  were  transferred  to  the  Colonel 
King,  quite  a  small  boat.  The  passengers  were  twenty-five  in 
number,  and  there  were  bunks  for  but  ten.  We  steamed  until 
ten  at  night,  making  little  progress,  and  then  tied  up  to  a  tree, 
as  was  usual  in  those  waters.  The  cabin  was  small  and  very 
dirty,  so  we  could  not  lie  down,  chairs  being  our  only  resting- 
place.  At  daybreak  we  got  under  way,  and  after  three  hours' 
steaming  reached  the  head  of  an  island,  when  our  steam  gave 
out,  and  we  were  carried  down  the  channel  on  the  other  side  of 
the  island,  which  imposed  upon  us  the  necessity  of  descending  to 
within  two  miles  of  Eastport,  whence  we  had  started  the  day 
before.  When  we  rounded  up  at  the  foot  of  the  island  we  fired 
up  manfully,  and,  reaching  the  head  of  the  island,  had  the  good 
luck  not  to  be  swept  down  again.  In  thirty-six  hours  we  reached 
Tuscumbia,  a  distance  of  only  thirty  miles.  Although  the  time 
was  wasted,  it  was  not  wholly  lost ;  we  had  "  characters"  on 
board,  as  persons  were  styled  in  stages  and  steamboats  who  gave 
to  other  passengers  instruction  or  amusement.  A  collector  of 
raccoon-skins  gave  us  his  experience  in  general,  and  in  particu- 
lar during  the  prevalence  of  cholera  as  an  epidemic  at  Paducah. 
An  Irish  parson,  with  a  dirty  white  cravat  and  a  white-headed 
wife,  fairly  divided  honors  with  his  rival ;  his  specialty  was  to 
find  out  the  business  of  other  people.  After  a  number  of  ques- 
tions, he  learned  that  I  "  followed  the  sea,"  whereupon  he  dilated 
upon  navigation.  As  he  knew  little,  I  was  malicious  enough  to 
give  him  the  various  methods  employed  to  find  the  position  at 
sea,  and,  as  he  wished  to  air  his  knowledge,  and  not  to  learn,  he 
gave  me  a  wide  berth  until  we  parted. 

On  our  arrival  at  Tuscumbia  we  learned  that  a  fall  of  snow 
of  half  an  inch  had  prevented  the  arrival  of  the  cars  from 
Florence ;  this  railroad  was  necessary  to  enable  us  to  get  around 
the  Muscle  Shoals.  We  left  the  next  day  on  a  full  car  drawn 
by  horses.  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  secure  a  seat,  and  saw 
not  only  unfortunates  crowded  within  the  car,  but  also  others 
actually  holding  on  outside.  Six  miles  from  Tuscumbia  we 
met  the  locomotive,  coming  at  the  usual  speed  of  three  miles  an 
hour.  It  ran  off  the  track  ahead  of  us,  and  no  bones  were 
broken.    Being  interested,  the  passengers  got  fence-rails  for  pries, 


CHATTANOOGA.  221 

and  set  to  work ;  in  a  few  minutes  the  locomotive  was  again  on 
the  track.  We  then  had  other  cars  attached,  with  a  negro  walk- 
ing alongside  each  car  to  hold  the  rail  flat  on  the  sleeper,  over 
the  ties,  as  the  front  wheel  of  the  car  reached  it.  I  note  in  my 
diary  that  this  is  a  fact,  and  not  a  fanciful  statement,  and,  to 
verify  it,  state  that  we  were  a  day  and  a  half  making  the  forty- 
three  miles  to  Decatur.  Other  "  characters"  were  found  on  the 
train, — one  a  good-natured  young  Mississippian  who  had  left 
the  day  before  we  did,  and  after  getting  along  ten  miles,  stuck 
fast,  notwithstanding  the  exertions  of  the  horses  and  the  pas- 
sengers. The  road  had  been  built  about  twenty  years, — in  fact, 
was  among  the  first  constructed  in  the  country, — and  instead 
of  improving  had  deteriorated  greatly. 

We  found  a  steamboat  ready  to  leave  for  Chattanooga.  The 
scenery  on  the  northern  bank  to  our  destination  was  grand, 
cliffs  of  white-looking  rock  one  thousand  feet  or  more  in  height 
sometimes  overhanging  the  river,  and  sometimes  with  a  rich  low 
ground  in  front  along  the  tortuous  stream.  The  low  grounds 
are  evidently  subject  to  overflow  in  high  stages  of  water.  These 
highlands,  known  as  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  would  be  an 
admirable  refuge  to  the  entire  southwest  during  periods  of 
yellow-fever  epidemic,  as  they  are  conveniently  situated,  with 
ready  means  of  transit.  In  proof  of  the  sufficiency  of  the 
altitude,  I  may  say  that  in  later  years  I  paid  a  visit  to  Count 
Medem,  at  Petropolis,  some  forty  miles  from  Rio  Janeiro,  and 
was  informed  that  the  highest  local  yellow-fever  development 
was  at  the  house  at  which  the  horses  were  changed  in  ascending, 
and  that  the  height  of  that  point  was  not  two  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.  The  Lookout  Mountain  at  Chattanooga  would 
perhaps  be  even  still  better  adapted  as  a  convenient  point  of 
safety. 

Several  flat-boats  were  lying  at  Chattanooga,  some  of  them 
loaded  with  apples  of  excellent  quality.  As  the  "  broad-horn," 
or  flat-boat,  has  gone  out  of  existence,  and  as  it  had  performed 
an  indispensable  purpose  for  many  years,  a  description  of  it  is 
given.  It  was  a  rectangular  box,  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  in 
length,  about  twenty  feet  in  width,  and  from  seven  to  eight  feet 
in  height  between  the  bottom  and  the  roof,  and  was  built  as 


222  THE  0LD  KAVF  AND    THE  NEW. 

follows.  Two  bottom  side-pieces  were  hewn  of  the  proper  length 
about  six  inches  through  and  twenty  inches  in  depth.  Mortices 
were  cut  at  distances  of  about  four  feet  in  the  bottom  of  these 
pieces,  and  planking  three  or  four  inches  in  thickness,  and 
twenty  feet  in  length  across  the  bottom,  was  put  in,  forming  the 
floor-ribs.  The  heavy  side-pieces  upon  which  the  structure  was 
made  were  hewed  at  the  ends  for  some  ten  feet,  making  a  curve, 
and  leaving  them  at  the  ends  about  ten  inches  in  depth.  The 
structure  (or  at  least  the  scow  part  of  it)  was  built  bottom  up, 
the  planking  put  on,  calked  with  tow,  and  rarely  pitched. 
When  this  part  was  completed  it  was  turned  over,  placed  on 
a  platform  convenient  for  launching,  or  actually  put  in  the 
water  and  the  superstructure  built  upon  it.  This  consisted  of 
stanchions  placed  to  meet  the  floor-ribs  and  nailed  or  spiked 
to  the  side-pieces  and  to  the  ribs;  the  outside  planking  of 
rough  boards  was  then  nailed  on  and  calked  with  tow,  a  rail 
was  put  upon  the  top  of  the  stanchions,  and  a  centre-piece 
longitudinally  with  a  stringer,  rough  planking  was  laid  from 
side  to  side,  partially  calked,  and  other  planks  laid  over  the 
joints,  forming  a  roof.  About  six  feet  of  the  flat-boat  was  left 
open  in  front,  with  a  temporary  awning  over  it  when  required, 
and  side-holes  as  windows  cut  to  let  in  the  fresh  air.  Then  a 
flooring  was  laid  on  the  bottom,  "  saplings''  put  on  pins  and 
pieces  of  plank  nailed  on  them,  two  of  them  to  serve  as  side- 
sweeps,  and  the  third  to  pull  the  after  part  of  the  boat  around 
so  as  to  place  the  head,  or  bow,  in  any  desired  direction.  When 
the  floor  was  laid  and  these  rough  preparations  made,  with  a 
stove  added,  for  cooking,  the  boat  was  ready  for  her  cargo, 
consisting  usually  of  corn  in  the  ear,  bacon,  apples,  or  whatever 
it  was  desired  to  send  down  the  river.  Usually  three  men 
managed,  as  far  as  possible,  this  unwieldy  craft.  It  was  always 
tied  up  to  the  bank  after  night,  unless  the  river  below  was  free 
from  snags  and  there  were  no  island-heads  to  ground  upon. 
The  current  swept  them  on  their  way,  and  propulsion  was 
simply  given  when  necessary  to  avoid  obstructions,  or  to  gain 
the  shore  and  make  fast,  which  latter  was  usually  effected  by 
taking  the  end  of  a  line  ashore,  making  it  fast,  and  swinging 
the  clumsy  hulk  in  along  the  bank. 


MACON.  223 

Until  steamboats  became  the  carriers  of  provisions  from  the 
waters  of  the  Ohio  and  other  affluents  of  the  Mississippi,  every- 
thing exported  was  carried  down  the  river  in  these  rude  con- 
structions, one  owner  frequently  having  several  flat-boats  that 
kept  company.  They  sold  or  bartered  as  they  went  down  the 
river,  New  Orleans  being  the  end  of  the  voyage,  and  there  every- 
thing remaining  of  the  cargo  was  sold.  The  planks  from  which 
the  flat-boat  was  made  generally  sold  for  as  much  as  they  cost, 
with  the  expense  of  construction  of  the  boat  added.  The  cap- 
tain or  owner  then  walked  back,  accompanied  by  the  crew ;  a 
necessary  precaution  to  prevent  being  murdered.  Sixty  years 
ago  this  was  the  usual  mode  of  sending  freights  to  New  Orleans  ; 
but  at  the  date  of  which  I  write  steamboats  were  gradually 
taking  the  place  of  "  broad-horns/'  or  flat-boats. 

Chattanooga  was  not  at  all  inviting,  save  in  its  surrounding 
scenery.  The  steep,  muddy  bank  from  the  water's  edge  to  a  flat 
surface  was  as  nature  made  it.  We  had  to  lie  over  until  the 
next  morning,  and  then  were  on  a  better-appointed  railroad  than 
that  before  described.  Indeed,  it  was  well  up  in  speed  for  the 
day,  making  some  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  per  hour.  After 
reaching  Dalton,  a  distance  of  twenty  miles,  the  country  had 
altogether  an  inviting  appearance.  Here  I  left  a  card  for  an 
acquaintance,  the  travestied  Colonel  Mulberry  Sellers  of  recent 
comedy,  who,  by  the  way,  was  a  gentleman  of  ability  and  char- 
acter. The  country  about  Kenesaw  Mountain  struck  me  as 
particularly  beautiful,  and  Marietta,  four  miles  south,  was  a 
charming  country  village.  We  ended  our  journey  for  the  day 
at  Atlanta,  the  hotel  coming  up  to  the  demands  of  civilization. 
We  left  at  eleven  A.M.  the  next  day,  and  about  four  p.m.  arrived 
at  Macon,  where  we  were  obliged  to  lie  over  until  the  next  day. 
Although  the  country  around  is  elevated,  it  had  wholly  lost  a 
mountainous  appearance;  it  was  not  without  beauty,  but  the 
soil  by  bad  tillage  was  so  exhausted  that  the  cotton-  and  corn- 
stalks standing  in  the  fields  presented  a  pitiable  appearance. 
The  Lanier  House  was  a  good  hotel,  the  first  since  leaving  Cin- 
cinnati, and  the  town  was  altogether  attractive  in  appearance. 
We  left  Macon  early,  skirting  swamps  usually,  and  now  and  then 
seeing  cultivated  ground.     The  country  seemed  very  sparsely 


224  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

peopled,  but  I  was  told  that  a  few  miles  from  the  line  of  loca- 
tion of  the  railroad  it  was  quite  different.  In  twelve  hours  we 
reached  Savannah.  It  seems  as  though  the  days'  journeys  were 
regulated  by  the  time-bill  of  the  old  stage-coaches,  giving  addi- 
tional opportunity  in  the  large  towns  to  chew  tobacco  and  talk 
politics.  Fifteen  days  had  been  passed  in  making  the  journey 
between  Cincinnati  and  Savannah,  with  a  good  deal  of  discom- 
fort. Now  it  is  a  pleasant  journey  of  thirty-six  hours,  with  as 
much  convenience  in  travel  as  can  be  desired. 

Mackenzie,  the  proprietor  of  the  Pulaski  House  at  Savannah, 
happened  to  be  an  old  and  agreeable  acquaintance.  I  was  at 
breakfast  when  I  received  a  call  from  my  friends  Maffit,  Ander- 
son, and  Bullock,  the  first-named  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
surveying- vessel  I  had  come  to  join,  the  second  an  old  shipmate 
and  friend,  of  whom  I  shall  have  more  to  say,  and  the  third 
now  well  known  as  a  gentleman  of  character  and  ability  whose 
services  were  specially  useful  to  the  Confederacy,  ten  years  later, 
as  a  commercial  agent  in  England.  Maffit  was  a  thorough  sea- 
man and  a  very  successful  blockade-runner,  commanding  the 
Florida,  and  by  a  ruse  succeeding  in  taking  her  into  Mobile. 
Anderson  had  served  some  fifteen  years  in  the  navy,  reached  the 
grade  of  lieutenant,  and  resigned  several  years  before.  He  had 
a  cotton-plantation  nine  miles  from  the  city,  on  the  Ogeechee 
River,  and  a  large  number  of  slaves,  very  well  taken  care  of, 
as  I  saw  on  paying  visits  from  time  to  time.  His  negroes  were 
well  fed,  well  clothed,  and  when  sick  received  not  only  the  care 
of  a  physician  but  also  the  attention  of  his  excellent  wife.  They 
were  as  happy-looking  people  as  one  could  see  anywhere.  Walk- 
ing out  one  day  with  Anderson,  he  called  my  attention  to  an  old 
negro  who  was  carrying  a  large  pine  stick  on  his  head  from  a 
considerable  distance  to  his  house.  "  Look,"  said  Anderson,  "at 
that  old  fool :  he  is  carrying  his  wood  all  that  distance,  and  you 
see  that  wood,  equally  good,  growing  close  to  his  house."  As 
we  passed  him,  Anderson  said,  "  Uncle  Jujube,  why  don't  you 
get  your  wood  near  your  house,  instead  of  carrying  it  so  far  ?" 
He  replied,  "  Massa  Edward,  dat  nigh  wood  ain't  no  good." 

In  conversation  with  Anderson  I  told  him  that  slavery  in 
some  of  its  aspects  was  quite  incomprehensible  to  me.    I  supposed 


SOME  REFLECTIONS  ON  SLAVERY.  225 

no  one,  as  an  abstract  question,  would  contend  that  it  was  right ; 
and  yet,  looking  at  it  practically,  I  saw  the  faces  of  his  slaves 
radiant  with  smiles ;  they  were  well  clad,  well  cared  for,  and 
happy;  all  the  small  children  were  under  the  charge  of  a 
"  mammy,"  who  cared  for  them  better  than  their  parents,  as  a 
rule,  would  have  done.  I  compared  their  condition  with  that 
of  the  slaves  of  Mr.  Guest  (or  Gist),  a  Virginian,  who  about 
1830  emancipated  them,  bought  a  considerable  tract  of  land  in 
the  county  in  which  I  was  born,  in  Ohio,  and  established  them 
upon  it.  After  the  lapse  of  ten  years  they  were  ill  fed,  had  few 
clothes,  and  those  had  been  given  them  by  the  whites,  and  were 
not  attended  to  when  sick,  in  consequence  of  which  the  mortality 
was  great  among  them.  In  short,  they  were  wretched  to  a 
degree,  when  they  had  not  only  their  freedom,  but  also  land  and 
implements  to  work  it,  given  them.  I  think  my  friend  en- 
deavored to  convince  me  that  they  were  made  to  be  slaves,  or 
something  of  that  sort.  In  after-years  it  occurred  to  me  that 
persons  upon  whom  a  wrong  is  perpetrated  do  not  suffer  in  the 
same  degree  as  those  who  perpetrate  the  wrong. 

In  the  early  part  of  June  the  work  upon  which  I  was  engaged 
allowed  me  to  go  north  for  three  months.  Mr.  Mactavish,  then 
British  consul  at  Baltimore,  was  good  enough  to  give  me  a  dinner- 
party ;  the  guests,  a  dozen  or  more  in  number,  were  people  of 
note,  among  whom  were  Mrs.  Harper,  widow  of  Goodloe  Harper, 
and  daughter  of  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  and  Miss  Harper, 
who  was  then,  and  is  to  this  day,  the  friend  of  the  poor.  Several 
gentlemen,  venerable  and  distinguished,  were  there,  who  are  still 
living,  and  Mrs.  Patterson,  more  widely  known  as  the  wife  of 
Jerome  Bonaparte,  whose  history  in  part  is  doubtless  to  be  found 
in  cyclopaedias.  Although  married  prior  to  1804,  she  was  in 
1851  still  vigorous,  with  little  sign  of  decadence.  It  was  said 
that  she  prided  herself  on  being  in  appearance  quite  a  Bonaparte, 
and  certainly  she  had  the  Napoleonic  cast  of  feature,  and  a  re- 
markable amount  of  executive  ability.  It  does  not  occur  to  me, 
judging  from  the  limited  personal  intercourse  I  had  with  her 
and  from  extracts  from  her  Memoirs,  that  she  thought  as  a 
woman.  I  mean  to  assert,  what  probably  may  be  conceded,  that 
there  is  a  natural  train  of  thought  distinctively  belonging  to 

15 


226  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

each  sex ;  and  that  belonging  to  the  female  sex  seems  to  have 
been  denied  her,  as  exemplified  in  the  rather  copious  extracts 
from  her  Memoirs  that  appeared  in  the  newspapers  some  years 
ago.  Nevertheless,  Mrs.  Patterson  had  an  unusual  amount  of 
thought,  of  opinion,  and  of  character  regarded  from  a  Shake- 
spearian point  of  view,  as  shown  by  her  life  and  her  history.  At 
the  dinner  referred  to,  I  was  on  her  left,  and  she  was  good  enough 
to  give  me  her  views  of  the  political  situation  in  France  at  that 
time.  She  said,  "  People  talk  of  Louis  Napoleon  as  a  fool ; 
that  is  shown  to  be  an  error  by  the  fact  that  he  pursues  a  steady 
purpose  looking  to  the  Empire  ;  a  fool  is  always  vacillating  ;  he 
listens  to  one  and  adopts  his  ideas  and  then  to  another  and  en- 
deavors to  adopt  his  also  ;  so  a  man  shows  himself  a  fool,  if  in 
a  high  place.  They  say  he  has  Marshal [the  name  I  can- 
not recall],  an  old  friend  of  the  first  Napoleon,  as  his  adviser,  and 
that  may  be,  but  were  he  a  fool  he  would  sometimes  take  his 
advice  and  at  other  times  would  ignore  it.  Now,  I  have  been 
watching  Louis  Napoleon  ever  since  he  was  elected  President, 
and  he  has  had  but  one  object  in  view,  and  that  is  to  be  Emperor, 
and  Emperor  he  will  be  within  six  months  from  this  date."  The 
time  limit  of  Mrs.  Patterson  was  almost  exact  when  he  made 
his  coup  oVetat,  and  by  shooting  down  all  the  men  found  on  the 
streets  on  the  2d  of  December,  established  such  a  reign  of  terror 
in  Paris  as  to  effect  his  object.  It  seems  incredible  that  troops 
should  have  been  ordered  to  traverse  the  streets  and  shoot  down 
men  who  fled  before  them,  yet  such  was  the  fact ;  my  classmate 
Catesby  Jones,  then  a  lieutenant  in  our  navy,  was  one  of  the 
victims ;  he  was  dangerously  wounded,  and  only  saved  from 
death  through  a  compassionate  woman  having  opened  a  door 
and  assisted  him  into  the  house. 

When  I  returned  south  I  was  an  assistant  in  the  surveys  of 
the  Savannah  River,  in  the  approach  to  Tybee  Roads,  and  on  the 
bars  of  the  North  Edisto  and  Charleston  harbor.  This  gave 
me  an  experience  and  local  knowledge  that  ten  years  later,  when 
our  civil  war  came  about,  I  found  most  valuable.  Engaged  in 
this  duty,  I  had  the  opportunity,  when  bad  weather  forced  us  to 
anchor,  of  making  the  acquaintance  of  several  of  the  agreeable 
families  living  in  that  region, — among  others  of  Mr.  Berwick 


A   SOUTH  CAROLINA   SECESSIONIST.  227 

Legare"  on  Edisto  Island.  It  was  my  good  fortune,  with  the  aid 
of  our  friend  Anderson,  to  assist  materially  our  common  friend 
Maffit;  but,  finding  him,  when  a  year  had  passed,  averse  to 
going  to  sea,  I  cut  loose  and  was  ordered  north.  It  happened 
that  a  young  planter  whose  relatives  I  knew  was  my  travelling- 
companion.  About  this  period,  or  maybe  a  little  earlier,  South 
Carolina  had  got  up  one  of  her  efforts  to  disrupt  the  Union  ;  the 
disaffection  at  that  time  was  healed  in  great  part  by  the  efforts 
of  Henry  Clay.  My  young  friend  was  lamenting  that  South 
Carolina  had  not  then  gone  out  of  the  Union  anyhow  :  if  she 
had  done  so,  she  would  soon  be  rich  and  prosperous.  I  asked 
him  what  disadvantages  she  labored  under  at  preseut.  He  re- 
plied, "  The  enormous  duties,  sir;  they  break  us  down  com- 
pletely." I  suggested  that  governments  had  to  be  supported, 
and,  as  the  duties  collected  over  the  whole  country  barely  sufficed 
to  meet  governmental  expenses,  I  could  not  see  how  South 
Carolina  would  be  able  to  avoid  taxes  in  some  form  or  other, 
even  as  an  independent  government. 

"  Why,  sir/'  said  he,  "  we  would  import  enormously,  having 
free  ports,  and  would  supply  the  whole  country  with  goods." 

I  remarked  that  the  North  would  have  to  keep  up  its  duties,  or 
taxes,  in  some  form  or  other,  and  that  they  could  hardly  hope 
to  import  for  the  other  States  as  well  as  themselves.  His  idea 
was  that  the  goods  would  be  smuggled  across  the  borders  of 
the  State.  I  expressed  the  idea  that  this  would  be  put  a  stop 
to,  even  though  South  Carolina  were  an  independent  State ;  but 
in    his  mind   this   would   have   been  a  great  outrage   upon  a 

II  sovereign  State." 

After  our  arrival  in  Richmond,  my  young  friend  informed 
me,  not  long  before  the  cars  were  to  leave,  that  he  would  be 
obliged  to  remain  over ;  he  had  a  negro  servant  with  him,  a  free 
man  living  in  Charleston,  and,  as  he  could  not  be  identified  at 
present  at  the  railroad  office,  they  would  not  permit  his  servant 
to  pass,  for  he  might  be  a  slave  attempting  to  escape,  with  his 
assistance.  Fortunately,  at  that  moment  a  young  lady  accom- 
panied by  a  gentleman  passed,  the  daughter  of  ex-Secretary 
Mason,  of  the  navy,  at  whose  house  I  was  intimate.  I  asked 
her  if  she  was  willing  to  recognize  me ;  this  amused  her ;  where- 


228         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

upon  I  laid  before  her  the  dilemma  of  my  travelling-companion, 
and  she  was  good  enough  to  go  with  us  to  the  office  and  state 
who  I  was,  and  I  vouched  for  Mr.  Seabrook,  which  enabled 
him  to  go  in  the  train  with  his  servant. 

In  February,  1852,  I  was  ordered  as  an  assistant  to  a  com- 
mission sent  to  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  to  select  a  suitable 
site  for  a  navy-yard.  Senator  Gwin  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
selection  made  by  a  commission  two  years  before,  and  wished  it 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  city.  The  second  commission 
consisted  of  Commodore  Sloat,  Commander  Ogden,  Lieutenant 
Blount,  and  Civil  Engineer  Sanger,  of  the  navy ;  as  assistants 
myself  and  Passed  Midshipman  Jackson.  Sloat  had  been  in 
command  on  the  coast  of  California  when  our  war  with  Mexico 
was  commenced ;  for  war  was  not  declared,  it  was  simply  begun 
by  our  troops  moving  into  Mexican  territory,  where  they  were 
attacked  by  the  Mexicans.  Blount  was  the  son  of  a  planter  in 
Southampton  County,  Virginia,  who  when  he  was  twelve  years 
of  age  became  known  through  his  conduct  in  the  Nat  Turner 
insurrection  when  an  attack  was  made  on  Blount's  plantation. 
Mr.  Blount  was  quite  old  and  infirm,  hardly  able  to  stand.  He 
was  informed  of  the  approach  of  Turner  with  a  considerable 
force  of  mounted  negroes,  more  or  less  armed,  who  had  killed 
several  families  in  the  neighborhood.  As  usual  on  plantations, 
Blount  had  several  guns,  which  he  loaded,  and,  seated  on  his 
porch,  awaited  the  coming  of  the  mob,  headed  by  Turner. 
They  rode  briskly  into  the  yard,  shouting,  but,  before  they 
could  get  off  their  horses,  young  Blount  had  emptied  several 
saddles.  This  was  so  unexpected  that  it  created  a  panic,  and, 
instead  of  dismounting,  the  party  rode  off  in  confusion.  Young 
Blount  was  given  a  midshipman's  appointment,  and  had  already 
served  some  twenty  years  in  the  navy  since  that  occurrence. 
He  was  an  excellent  and  gallant  officer,  and  withal  quite  good- 
looking.  Sanger  was  the  only  civil  engineer  in  the  navy  at  that 
time,  and  in  all  matters  concerning  navy- yards  was  very  efficient. 
Sloat  had  invented  an  auger :  it  was  always  a  puzzle  to  me,  as 
well  as  to  others  who  were  associated  with  him,  why  he  had 
done  so,  inasmuch  as  he  could  bore  so  perfectly  without  an 
auger. 


PANAMA.  229 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

From  New  York  to  Havana — Lieutenant  David  D.  Porter — Count  Medem 
— Aspinwall — Panama — Acapulco — Santa  Barbara — San  Pedro — Lieuten- 
ant Alden — San  Francisco — Vallejo — Foster's  Bar — Fleas — The  Sierra 
Nevada — Mr.  Maccarty — Start  back  on  Foot — Perils  of  the  Road — Get  a 
Ride  for  a  Dollar — Rats — Arrive  at  San  Francisco — Return  Voyage — De- 
tails of  the  Trip — New  York  to  Baltimore— Charles  Carroll's  Library — 
Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry — Secretary  Kennedy — Join  my  Vessel  at 
Norfolk — Georgetown — Cayenne — Maranham — The  Amazon. 

We  left  New  York  on  the  24th  of  March  on  board  of  the 
Georgia,  commanded  by  Lieutenant — now  Admiral — Porter,  of 
the  navy,  and  were  nearly  one  week  in  reaching  Havana,  where 
we  were  transferred  to  the  Cherokee,  a  filthy  vessel,  upon  which 
we  were  six  days  in  reaching  Aspinwall.  On  board  of  the 
Georgia  I  had  become  somewhat  familiar  with  Count  Medem, 
the  Russian  minister  to  Brazil,  a  charming  travelling  companion, 
of  whom  I  shall  have  more  to  say. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  at  Aspinwall  we  were  carried  by  rail- 
road to  Balbacoas,  thence  shoved  up  the  Chagres  River  in 
canoes  to  Gorgona,  against  a  strong  current  a  distance  of  twenty 
miles,  and  on  the  following  day  we  went  on  mules  to  Panama, 
the  count  and  myself  being  side  by  side  all  the  way.  An 
Irishman  mounted  on  a  mule  pertinaciously  rode  with  us :  so 
far  as  I  was  concerned,  I  did  not  object ;  but  the  count,  being  a 
diplomatist,  was  averse  to  a  third  party  hearing  our  conversation, 
and  in  a  good-humored  way  said  to  our  uninvited  companion, 
"  You  have  a  noble  mule,  and  mine  is  a  very  lazy  one :  now, 
won't  you  ride  ahead,  by  way  of  inciting  my  mule  to  emulate 
yours  ?"  The  Irishman  said,  "  Gentlemen,  I  crave  your  company 
because  I  know  you  are  gentlemen,  and  would  not  allow  a  poor 
fellow  to  be  abused  or  robbed."  "  Very  well,"  said  the  count : 
"  you  ride  on,  and  we  will  protect  you."  When  we  got  on  the 
outskirts  of  Panama  his  mule  "  flopped  down"  to  roll,  as  mine 
had  done  at  Palermo,  and  we  had  to  rescue  him,  his  leg  being 
caught  under  the  saddle.     Then  we  went  into  the  city,  and 


230  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

found  not  a  place  where  to  rest  our  heads.  We  visited  house 
after  house  in  which  bunks  were  built  in  the  rooms  three  or  four 
over  one  another,  and  yet  not  even  under  such  conditions  was  a 
resting-place  to  be  found.  I  eventually  had  to  get  permission 
to  go  on  board  of  the  steamer,  because  I  could  not  find  sleeping 
room  on  shore.  Sanger,  Jackson,  and  myself  embarked  in  a 
boat,  and,  our  boatman  being  inexpert,  we  had  to  pull  our  way 
two  miles  at  least  to  the  steamer,  where  we  soon  had  a  bath  and 
were  made  comfortable. 

We  sailed  the  next  evening,  and  in  due  time  reached  Acapulco, 
where  we  coaled.  We  left  that  port  on  the  15th  of  April,  and 
got  along  very  well  until  we  broke  down  off  Santa  Cruz,  an 
island  near  Santa  Barbara,  when  we  bore  away  under  sail,  not 
being  able  to  do  anything  else,  and  anchored  at  San  Pedro.  I 
was  surprised  to  see  how  helpless  side-wheel  steamers  were  when 
undtT  sail  alone.  The  wheels  were  lashed,  the  upper  paddles 
taken  oif,  and  then  the  wheels  turned  over  so  as  to  get  rid  of 
the  drag  of  the  paddles.  With  great  difficulty  by  means  of 
the  helm  and  head-sails,  the  steamer  was  got  on  her  course, 
with  a  breeze  on  her  quarter  that  would  have  meant  ten  knots 
an  hour  for  an  ordinary  vessel,  yet  she  did  not  move  more  than 
three  miles  an  hour  in  reaching  her  port.  We  luckily  found 
the  surveying-steamer  Active  at  San  Pedro,  under  Lieutenant 
Alden,  of  the  navy,  who  determined  to  take  our  party  and  a 
few  of  our  friends  to  San  Francisco  and  to  give  information 
there,  that  a  steamer  might  be  sent  to  tow  the  vessel.  He  got 
under  way  at  noon  the  next  day,  and,  after  a  passage  of  a  little 
more  than  two  days,  arrived  in  San  Francisco. 

As  we  were  passing  Monterey,  he  was  good  enough  to  anchor 
there  for  a  few  hours,  in  response  to  the  expression  on  our  part 
of  a  desire  to  see  the  town.  We  went  on  shore,  and  were  de- 
lighted with  the  green  broad  plains  covered  with  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  small  poppies  of  varied  colors,  then  in  full  bloom.  We 
left  in  the  evening,  and  reached  San  Francisco  about  the  last  of 
April. 

To  perform  the  duties  assigned,  the  commission  had  either  to 
charter  a  vessel  or  to  purchase  one,  and  the  latter  was  found  to 
be  far  the  more  economical.     A  brigantine,  the  Major  Eastman, 


SAN  FRANCISCO.  231 

was  purchased  and  fitted  for  our  purpose.  We  then  examined 
the  waters  of  the  bay,  making  soundings  and  sketches  of  Kincon 
Point,  Saucelito,  Aspinwall  Bay,  as  it  was  called,  and  finally  a 
careful  survey  of  Mare  Island  Straits,  and  of  the  island  itself. 
This  was  the  locality  selected  by  the  former  commission,  and 
was  an  admirable  one  for  the  purpose.  The  soundings  were 
made  by  me,  the  ground  favoring  a  very  rapid  and  satisfactory 
execution  of  the  work  by  means  of  a  quadrilateral  measured  and 
staked  on  shore,  and  the  use  of  portable  ranges,  observing  angles 
over  every  other  cast  of  the  lead. 

San  Francisco  at  that  time  was  an  extraordinary  outgrowth  of 
three  years, — everybody  busy,  and  everybody  regarding  himself 
as  a  millionaire.  The  restaurants  were  very  good,  and  elk  and 
grizzly  bear  were  among  the  possibilities  of  the  table.  My 
friend  Bowie  was  then  a  practising  physician,  and  suggested  my 
use  of  one  of  his  horses,  by  which  means  I  became  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  surroundings  for  miles.  The  city,  from  the 
large  amount  of  sawdust,  was  badly  infested  with  fleas ;  and 
although  it  was  the  month  of  May,  the  cold  damp  fogs  that  were 
swirled  over  the  hills,  and  the  high  winds  that  set  the  sand  in 
motion,  made  the  climate  extremely  disagreeable.  Just  across 
the  bay,  only  half  a  dozen  miles  distant,  at  a  place  now  known 
as  Oakland,  these  disagreeable  features  were  very  much  mollified. 
Following  up  beyond  Mare  Island,  in  what  are  known  as  the 
Carquinez  Straits,  the  climate  is  quite  different :  the  fogs,  if  they 
reach  there  at  all,  are  not  oppressive  or  disagreeable,  and  the  raw- 
ness of  the  atmosphere  entirely  disappears.  The  whole  aspect 
of  the  country  is  mountainous,  and  in  the  early  season,  when  it  is 
covered  with  a  species  of  wild  oats,  it  presents  a  pleasing  appear- 
ance. After  a  month  or  so,  when  they  are  ripened  and  em- 
browned, and  the  dry  season  has  fairly  commenced,  the  country 
has  a  very  dreary  aspect ;  in  riding  over  it,  great  crevices  are 
seen,  caused  by  the  dryness  of  the  soil.  Here  and  there  were 
green  trees,  rather  in  sheltered  positions,  usually  a  species  of  oak, 
which  was  found  to  be  very  brash  and  unserviceable  for  naval 
purposes.  Very  little  timber  could  be  seen  in  the  immediate 
surrounding's,  but  in  the  distance  were  considerable  forests  of 
red-wood,  a  coarse  species  of  cedar.     Monte  Diablo,  some  fifteen 


232  THE  OLD   NAVF  AND    THE  NEW. 

miles  or  more  from  Vallejo,  was  a  very  beautiful  feature  in  the 
landscape.  Vallejo,  at  that  time,  was  the  capital  of  California, 
and  consisted  of  twenty  or  more  frame  houses,  mostly  unoccupied, 
and  of  a  large  two-story  frame,  known  as  the  State-House,  upon 
which  the  American  flag  had  been  hoisted  months  before,  and 
never  hauled  down  while  we  were  in  sight  of  it.  When  lying 
in  Mare  Island  Straits  one  evening,  I  accompanied  Captain 
Ogden  in  his  boat  to  shoot  wild  ducks,  that  abounded  in  those 
waters.  It  was  not  very  sportsmanlike,  as  they  were  then  breed- 
ing. We  pulled  up  before  the  wind  several  miles,  and  into  the 
sloughs,  but  coming  back  again  was  quite  a  different  matter; 
the  wind  piped  up  fiercely  right  ahead,  and  the  water  was  very 
rough.  Ogden,  being  delicate,  soon  broke  down  pulling,  and  it 
was  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  got  alongside  of  our 
vessel,  my  hands  severely  blistered.  I  did  not  awake  until  eight 
o'clock,  and  never  had  so  fatiguing  a  pull  in  my  life. 

After  our  surveys  were  completed,  several  of  the  officers  were 
directed  to  visit  the  interior,  in  order  to  find  such  naval  require- 
ments as  stone  for  building  docks,  and  timber  for  ship-construc- 
tion, as  the  country  might  afford.  This  took  us  to  Sacramento, 
Marysville,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yuba,  and  to  mining  regions 
near  at  hand,  among  other  localities  to  Grass  Valley.  Another 
party  went  in  the  direction  of  Mount  Shasta.  At  that  time 
there  was  little  in  the  way  of  naval  supplies  or  wants  apparent 
in  the  regions  we  visited. 

After  our  work  was  accomplished,  ten  days  remained  before 
the  sailing  of  the  steamer,  and  I  obtained  permission  to  visit  the 
interior.  My  object  was  to  ascertain  the  locality  of  a  mineral 
which  I  thought  of  great  value,  a  specimen  of  which  I  had  seen. 
I  was  told  that  it  was  to  be  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Goodyear's, 
six  miles  short  of  Dowuieville,  on  the  Yuba.  I  went  in  a  com- 
fortable steamer  to  Sacramento,  the  melting  snows  in  the  moun- 
tains furnishing  plenty  of  water  up  to  that  time,  and  could  have 
gone  in  a  smaller  steamer  to  Marysville,  where  the  river  becomes 
almost  a  mountain  stream.  The  stage  carried  us  quite  eight 
miles  an  hour,  and  we  were  six  and  a  half  hours  on  the  dusty 
road.  I  went  to  the  United  States  Hotel  at  Marysville,  where 
I  had  been  before  with  two  other  officers  when  we  visited  the 


FLEAS.  233 

interior.  Here  I  left  my  baggage,  which  was  very  little,  and 
put  on  a  check  shirt  and  the  ordinary  rig  of  a  miner,  with  a 
revolver  in  a  strap  carried  on  the  right  hip.  The  next  morning 
we  started  early  in  a  rough  spring  wagon  for  Foster's  Bar,  forty 
miles  distant.  The  road  soon  became  rocky,  and  grew  rougher 
as  we  went  along ;  the  latter  part  of  the  way  was  quite  rough, 
and  at  places  all  the  passengers  wTere  obliged  to  get  out.  My 
fellow-passengers  were  several  French  gamblers  and  half  a  dozen 
of  their  countrywomen,  who  were  gotten  up  regardless  of  ex- 
pense, and  several  miners  in  such  a  garb  as  I  was.  On  our 
arrival  at  Foster's  Bar  we  were  put  down  at  the  "  Stage  House," 
which  was  made  up  of  a  bar-room,  an  eating-room,  a  kitchen, 
and  a  sleeping-room  of  canvas.  A  part  of  the  construction 
was  of  plank.  The  beds  were  made  by  driving  four  stout  poles 
into  the  ground,  and  at  a  height  of  two  feet,  fastening  a  piece  of 
canvas  to  them,  which  took  the  place  of  a  mattress.  A  brown 
blanket  was  thrown  upon  it,  that  would  not  show  dirt  under 
any  possible  conditions.  That  night  fifty  human  beings  were 
lying  on  these  rude  beds,  and  certainly  much  the  greater  number 
of  them  were  damning  the  fleas.  I  had  no  sooner  lain  down 
than  I  was  attacked  by  them,  and,  notwithstanding  my  fatigue, 
it  was  two  a.m.  before  I  got  to  sleep.  It  would  have  been  wise 
had  I  gone  out  of  doors  under  a  tree  and  left  the  fleas  to  bite 
the  other  people. 

It  was  Saturday  night,  and  the  miners  had  come  in  "  to  have 
a  good  time."  There  was  simply  a  canvas  partition  between  me 
and  the  bar-room,  in  which  there  was  a  constant  jargon,  and 
quarrels,  at  times.  I  went  to  sleep  speculating  upon  the  chance 
there  was  of  a  ball  hitting  me,  while  listening  to  a  loud  voice, 

"  Shoot,  d n  you,  shoot !  I  dare  you  to  do  it,"  and  other  voices, 

"  Put  up  your  pistol :  there  ain't  any  occasion  for  a  fight." 

In  the  morning  I  was  introduced  to.  Colonel  Greathouse,  who 
had  charge  of  the  mule-train  to  Downieville.  He  loitered  about 
until  ten,  when  it  had  grown  quite  wTarm.  In  the  mean  time  I 
saw  one  miner  strike  another  on  the  back  of  the  head  with  a 
stick  and  chase  him  down-hill ;  had  he  caught  him  I  have  no 
doubt  he  would  have  killed  him  outright ;  nobody  seemed  to 
interest  himself  in  the  affair.     On  mounting  our  mules  we  began 


234  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

an  immediate  but  not  a  steep  ascent  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Yuba ; 
the  mountain-side  was  sparsely  covered  with  pine-trees,  that 
seemed  not  very  large  until  looked  at  closely,  when  it  was  seen 
that  they  were  several  feet  in  diameter,  and  without  limbs  for  a 
hundred  feet  or  more  in  height.  The  grade  of  the  ascent  was 
generally  not  very  steep,  and  we  were  two  or  more  hours  in 
getting  near  the  summit.  Here  we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  range,  great  white  mountains  fifty  or  more  miles  in  the 
distance,  with  the  snow  far  down  their  sides.  Around  us  were 
giant  red-woods,  and  far  down,  thousands  of  feet  below,  were 
the  dashing  waters  of  the  Yuba.  A  breezy  wind  swept  over  us, 
and  we  heard  the  deep  and  solemn  music  that  winds  give  in 
wooded  mountain  regions.  At  last  wre  were  on  the  spur  that 
looked  down  on  Goodyear' s  Bar ;  in  the  distance,  far  below,  a 
thin  white  thread  was  visible  between  bordering  ridges  of  great 
height ;  it  was  the  upper  Yuba  dashing  down  its  bed,  hundreds 
of  feet  of  descent  per  mile.  Going  down  the  mountain-side 
would  have  been  impossible  to  a  rider  on  any  other  animal  than 
a  mule  ;  we  wound  our  way  around,  gradually  descending  over 
precipitous  ground,  not  cliffs,  thousands  of  feet  in  height,  with 
the  utmost  confidence  in  the  sure  footing  of  our  mules,  and  left 
them  to  their  own  guidance.  We  reached  Goodyear's  Bar  at 
four  o'clock,  having  been  six  hours  on  the  road  of  twenty -two 
miles.  After  alighting  at  the  hotel  and  having  a  promise  from 
Greathouse  that  he  would  bring  me  a  mule  the  next  day,  I  paid 
a  visit  to  a  Dr.  Young  whose  shingle  hung  out  near  by.  I  in- 
troduced myself  and  asked  information  in  relation  to  the  locality, 
then  walked  some  three  miles  down  the  Yuba  to  look  at  rocks 
that  I  was  told  were  there  in  abundance  of  a  kind  that  I  hoped 
to  find  ;  but  instead  there  was  a  hill-side  covered  with  a  greenish 
kind  of  what  appeared  to  be  soapstone.  Returning,  I  took  a 
mountain-path,  and,  before  I  knew  it,  was  hundreds  of  feet 
above  the  stream ;  here  I  met  a  big  Indian,  who  seemed  to  be 
in  gala  dress  and  had  his  bow  and  arrows.  We  passed  each 
other  with  a  friendly  nod. 

On  reaching  the  hotel,  after  my  ride,  and  a  walk  of  six  or  eight 
miles  afterwards,  I  was  quite  in  condition  to  dine  on  any  healthy 
food  that  was  obtainable,  and  found  the  usual  supply  of  dried 


MR.  MACCARTY.  235 

apples,  saleratus  bread,  and  canned  meats.  In  the  bar-room 
were  two  sailors  engaged  in  singing  a  sea-song,  and  the  doctor, 
wishing  to  make  things  agreeable,  had  come  over  to  introduce 
me  to  these  "  men  of  the  sea." 

He  said,  "Mr.  Maccarty,  this  is  Lieutenant  Ammen,  of  the 
navy.     Mr.  Yloss,  this  is  Lieutenant  Ammen,  of  the  navy." 

Mr.  Maccarty  certainly  had  a  "  load  aboard,"  but,  lest  the 
reader  should  not  understand  sea-slang,  I  will  say  he  was  "  half- 
seas  over."  On  hearing  my  title  announced,  he  saluted  me,  but 
on  looking  at  me  closely  appeared  to  consider  that  he  had  gone 
a  step  too  far, — in  short,  that  he  had  been  taken  in,  and  that  I 
was  an  impostor.     Said  Mr.  Maccarty, — 

"  You  say,  sir,  you  are  a  lieutenant  in  the  navy  ?" 

I  replied,  "  Yes,  I  am." 

"Then,  sir,"  said  he,  "won't  you  take  something  to  drink?" 

I  declined,  which  seemed  to  anger  him,  and  put  him  on  his 
"  dignity."  He  informed  me  that  up  there  one  man  was  as  good 
as  another.  I  replied  that  I  quite  agreed  with  him ;  and  might 
have  added,  in  the  language  of  an  Irishman  who  had  just  come 

over,  "  and  a  d n  sight  better,  too  !"     His  companion  was  a 

Swede,  not  so  far  gone  in  liquor,  and,  probably  regarding  me  as 
a  lieutenant  who  had  "  tripped  up,"  was  disposed  to  be  amiable 
and  to  enable  me  to  gain  a  livelihood.  He  told  me  he  could  set 
me  down  on  a  good  paying  claim  if  I  would  work.  I  told  him 
I  was  very  much  obliged  to  him  for  his  kind  offer,  but  that  I 
had  not  come  to  work,  that  I  wished  only  to  see  what  was  going 
on,  and  would  return  to  the  coast  the  next  day.  I  bade  my 
sailor  friends  and  the  doctor  good-night,  went  into  the  dining- 
room,  which  was  surrounded  by  bunks  in  tiers  four  deep,  and, 
crawling  up  to  a  top  bunk,  soon  fell  asleep,  in  spite  of  fleas,  filth, 
and  drunken  sailors. 

Early  in  the  morning  I  got  up,  went  out  of  doors  to  a  stream 
that  flowed  briskly  near  by,  performed  my  ablutions  satisfac- 
torily, then  breakfasted  on  dried  apples, — cooked,  of  course, — 
with  saleratus  bread,  and  whatever  else  was  presented,  and, 
while  awaiting  the  coming  of  Greathouse  and  his  mules,  ex- 
amined drifts  into  the  mountains  of  several  hundred  feet  which 
I   believe  were   profitless.     Greathouse  came,  but  instead  of 


236  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

bringing  me  a  male  he  brought  the  information  that  all  the 
mules  were  "  occupied/'  and,  as  I  saw,  by  just  such  a  class  of 
persons  as  I  had  come  up  with  the  day  before.  I  feel  quite 
satisfied  that  not  one  of  them,  man  or  woman,  could  have  pro- 
duced or  obtained  a  certificate  of  good  character  if  required ; 
but  of  course  there  was  no  one  to  demand  it.  It  was  a  place 
where  "one  man  was  just  as  good  as  another." 

Having  no  mule,  I  could  either  walk  or  stay  as  I  preferred. 
In  company  with  a  man  wearing  a  red  flannel  shirt,  who  told 
me  his  name  was  Yates,  and  that  he  had  been  the  mate  of  an 
Australian  ship,  whose  mule  also  was  "  occupied,"  I  started  up 
the  mountain-side,  determined  to  beat  the  mule-train  to  Foster's 
Bar  in  order  to  secure  a  seat  in  the  stage  to  Marysville.  The 
thermometer  was  one  hundred  degrees  in  the  shade,  yet,  from 
the  dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  we  did  not  suffer.  My  com- 
panion was  about  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  a  good  walker, 
so  we  got  over  the  ground  at  a  lively  pace  and  fairly  distanced 
the  mule-train.  On  the  mountain-top  we  encountered  a  cordon 
of  fire  that  was  moving  along  briskly,  and  at  one  point  we  had 
to  pass  through  a  disagreeably  hot  region  that  the  fire  had  just 
swept  over. 

On  our  arrival  at  the  bar  we  found  the  stage  seats  "  pre- 
empted" by  the  interesting  crowd  coming  on.  My  red-shirted 
companion  informed  me  soon  after  that  a  friend  had  promised 
him  a  mule  upon  which  he  would  go  to  Marysville,  which  left 
me  alone  for  a  walk  of  forty  miles  by  the  road,  or  to  remain,  as 
I  might  choose.  I  took  a  bath  in  the  clear  waters  of  the  Yuba, 
and  at  the  hotel  my  portion  of  baked  beans,  dried  apples,  and 
whatever  was  set  before  us,  and  awaited  the  morning,  when  I 
breakfasted  on  the  same  bill  of  fare  and  then  started  up  the 
mountain-side  for  Marysville.  After  ascending  to  a  consider- 
able height,  I  saw  a  young  man  below  me  climbing  the  height 
vigorously,  and  awaited  his  arrival.  I  told  him  I  had  not  been 
able  to  get  a  seat  in  the  stage  nor  to  hire  a  mule,  and  had  to 
walk  or  stay,  whichever  I  preferred,  but  that  as  I  feared  the 
steamer  might  leave  before  I  reached  the  coast  if  I  remained 
until  the  next  day,  I  had  concluded  to  walk.  He  told  me  he 
was  in  the  same  "  fix."     We  shortened  the  distances  consider- 


PERILS  OF   THE  ROAD.  237 

ably  by  taking  pathways  worn  several  inches  in  the  soil,  and 
very  dusty,  coming  into  the  stage  road  from  time  to  time.  In 
taking  one  of  these  paths  I  observed  my  companion  hesitate  to 
go  ahead  of  me,  doubtless  under  an.  apprehension  of  being  shot. 
I  immediately  took  the  lead,  and  he  saw  at  once  that  I  was  not 
laboring  under  a  fear  of  being  shot  by  him,  and  it  seemed  to 
assure  him  as  to  my  character.  We  had  got  along  fifteen  miles 
of  the  road,  and  kept  ahead  of  the  stage,  when  we  arrived  at  a 
way-side  house,  whose  occupant  was  a  friend  of  my  companion 
and  who  asked  him  to  take  a  mule  to  Marysville  that  he  had 
hired  and  ridden  home,  and  I  was  left  alone  to  pursue  my  way. 
During  the  morning  we  had  seen  in  the  dust  the  footprints  of  a 
grizzly  bear.  That  animal  rarely  attacks  a  man ;  only  when 
suddenly  approached  or  when  quite  hungry.  The  danger  of 
the  road  was  not  from  bears,  but  in  being  murdered.  On  re- 
counting my  experience  to  the  landlord  after  arriving  at  Marys- 
ville, he  informed  me  that  seventy  murders  had  been  known 
along  that  line  of  road  in  the  past  year,  and  that  many  more 
men  had  disappeared,  who  were  supposed  to  have  been  mur- 
dered and  hidden  in  the  mountains.  In  fact,  a  man  who  walked 
along  that  line  of  road  did  so  at  his  peril,  and  frequently,  when 
several  miners  travelled  together  for  security  they  were  shot 
from  an  ambush,  dragged  from  the  line  of  road,  and  their 
bodies  found  months  afterwards.  My  companion,  who  did  not 
know  me  and  who  looked  upon  me  with  distrust  under  such  a 
state  of  affairs,  only  displayed  an  ordinary  sense  of  caution. 

Ten  miles  farther  on  there  was  a  public  house  by  the  way- 
side, where  I  stopped  to  get  something  to  eat.  There  was  a 
"  Pike  County  woman"  standing  at  the  door,  to  whom  I  ad- 
dressed myself.  She  called  to  the  landlord,  "  Here's  a  man  out 
here  who  wants  to  git  something  to  eat."  Thus  announced,  I 
entered,  and  regaled  myself  as  usual  on  dried  apples,  saleratus 
bread,  and  other  food  which  might  be  eaten  by  a  hungry  man 
but  would  be  let  alone  under  ordinary  conditions  of  life.  At 
that  time  in  California  rough  people  who  were  not  supposed  to 
be  vicious  were  known  as  Pike  County  people,  a  large  emi- 
gration having  gone  to  California  from  that  section  of  Missouri. 
Here  I  was  overtaken  by  the  stage,  and  also  by  a  rough  wagon 


238  THE  0LD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

nearly  filled  with  miners  as  dirty  and  forbidding  in  appearance 
as  myself.  I  told  the  driver  that  I  wished  to  ride  to  Marysville ; 
he  looked  at  me  closely,  and  said  that  nobody  could  ride  with 
him  that  did  not  pay  him  a  dollar.  I  informed  him  that  I  was 
not  an  object  of  charity,  and,  producing  my  dollar,  was  allowed 
to  mount  an  outside  end  of  a  plank  laid  across  the  wagon  body, 
where  a  rough  pole  stuck  in  perpendicularly  enabled  me  to  hold 
on,  while  passing  over  rough  parts  of  the  road.  We  were 
about  fifteen  miles  from  Marysville ;  my  feet  were  badly  blistered 
by  my  walk  of  two  days,  but  not  "  used  up,"  as  they  were  the 
next  day.  I  found  when  we  got  to  the  end  of  our  journey 
that  my  right  hand,  by  which  I  held  on  to  prevent  being  thrown 
out,  was  also  blistered. 

When  I  had  left  the  hotel,  only  four  days  before,  I  had  at 
least  a  clean  appearance,  but  now  I  looked  so  dirty  and  forlorn 
that  when  recognized  by  the  landlord  he  asked  what  was  the 
matter  with  me.  I  informed  him  that  if  he  would  be  good 
enough  to  have  a  tub  of  water  and  my  baggage  taken  to  a  spare 
room  I  hoped  to  make  myself  all  right  in  a  few  minutes.  It 
did  not  take  long  to  disembarrass  myself  of  dirty  clothing  and 
to  make  the  best  use  possible  of  the  tub  of  water,  after  which  I 
put  on  clean  clothing  and  piled  all  my  dirty  garments  around 
the  tub  for  the  free  use  of  any  one  who  could  do  no  better  than 
to  put  them  on,  and  left  Upper  California  with  no  desire  to 
return ;  nor  has  a  longing  to  do  so  entered  my  mind  in  all  the 
years  that  have  passed  since  that  day. 

Everywhere  in  the  interior  I  was  surprised  at  the  great 
number  of  rats  to  be  seen  wherever  there  were  habitations.  It 
had  been  only  three  years  before  when  the  wild  rush  to  Cali- 
fornia set  in,  and  the  extraordinary  fecundity  of  rats  and  their 
sagacity  in  transporting  themselves  had  already  spread  them 
wherever  men  were  to  be  found.  The  ceilings  of  the  public 
and  private  houses  for  the  most  part,  when  there  were  any,  were 
made  of  white  cotton  cloth  nailed  with  slats  against  the  beams. 
This  afforded  an  admirable  place  for  the  rats  to  frolic  and 
chase  one  another,  uttering  their  peculiar  cry  on  such  occasions. 
The  bagging  down  of  the  cotton  cloth  plainly  showed  where 
the  animals  were,  and  the  miners  were  in  the  habit  of  shoot- 


ARRIVE  AT  SAN  FRANCISCO.  239 

ing  them  at  times,  as  they  lay  in  their  beds,  but  this  was 
generally  objected  to  or  discouraged  by  the  landlords,  for  the 
reasons  that  the  balls  made  holes  in  the  roofs,  and  that  when 
shot,  the  rats  had  to  be  removed  with  considerable  trouble,  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  the  stench  from  their  decomposing  bodies. 
Looking  out  in  the  hotel  yard  at  Marysville  in  the  glare  of  the 
noonday  sun,  it  seemed  quite  alive  with  rats. 

There  was  ample  facility  from  that  point  to  reach  the  steamer 
before  the  day  of  sailing,  so  that  I  was  no  longer  apprehensive 
of  being  left  behind.  The  commission  had  not  only  completed 
its  labors  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  but  had  sold  the  brigantine 
at  an  advance  of  several  hundred  dollars  over  what  had  been 
paid  for  her  and  all  fitments  and  repairs. 

On  reaching  San  Francisco  I  found  myself  in  a  sorry  plight; 
the  unusual  and  severe  exposure  and  exercise  through  which  I 
had  passed  made  me  quite  unwell,  and  I  was  spared  a  serious 
illness  only  through  a  careful  dietetic  observance  and  a  little 
medicine.  I  had  hardly  recovered  when  we  reached  Panama, 
though  the  voyage  gave  me  an  admirable  opportunity  for  im- 
provement. I  found  porter  an  excellent  tonic  for  the  febrile 
condition  brought  about  by  what  I  had  passed  through.  During 
our  examinations,  and  also  for  recreation,  we  frequently  had 
occasion  to  ascend  considerable  altitudes,  and  in  mountain- 
regions  generally  the  grades  are  so  easy  that  any  one  accustomed 
to  walking  finds  himself  at  a  considerable  height  without  noting 
his  ascent.  On  such  occasions  I  always  was  careful  to  take  my 
coat  off,  carrying  it  on  my  arm, — with  some  inconvenience,  of 
course.  On  arriving  at  a  summit,  where  a  fresh  breeze  was 
usually  found,  I  put  on  my  coat ;  and  one  of  my  companions 
would  then  take  his  coat  off,  notwithstanding  my  protests.  He 
said  he  wished  to  get  cool.  On  board  of  the  steamer  he  kept 
"  preparing  for  the  Isthmus,"  as  the  poor  fellow  said.  He  would 
take  a  blue-pill  at  night  very  frequently,  then  quinine  in  the 
morning,  and  would  eat  a  hearty  breakfast,  take  a  luncheon  of 
cheese,  porter,  and  sardines,  eat  a  hearty  dinner  with  a  glass  of 
sherry,  and  then,  before  going  to  bed  near  midnight,  would 
have  sardines  and  porter.  I  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from 
this  heroic  treatment  in  "  preparing  for  the  Isthmus."     Although 


240  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

he  crossed  without  mishap  and  reached  his  home,  flesh  and 
blood  could  not  stand  such  usage,  and  I  was  not  surprised  to 
hear  of  his  serious  illness  soon  after  reaching  home,  and  his 
death  a  few  months  thereafter. 

Our  voyage  was  very  pleasant.  Until  we  reached  Cape  St. 
Lucas,  the  extremity  of  the  peninsula  forming  the  Gulf  of 
California,  we  had  the  cool  fresh  breezes  that  usually  prevail, 
blowing  down  the  coast,  and  then  calms  and  pleasant  weather 
until  we  reached  Yentosa  Bay,  the  Pacific  or  southern  side  of 
the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  when,  although  a  good  many  miles 
from  the  bay,  we  had  quite  a  blow  and  a  rough  sea  for  the 
distance  from  a  weather  shore.  One  of  our  party  gave  us  an- 
other birthday  celebration  :  indeed,  such  occasions  seemed  to  be 
monthly,  instead  of  yearly,  and  they  were  very  enjoyable. 

When  we  arrived  at  Panama,  after  the  usual  passage  of  twenty 
days,  we  learned  that  for  the  past  six  weeks  the  cholera  had  been 
prevalent  in  a  virulent  form,  and  had  attacked  a  detachment  of 
our  troops  en  route  to  California,  several  officers  and  many  of 
the  soldiers  having  died.  Lieutenant  or  Captain  Grant — after- 
wards General  Grant — belonged  to  that  detail,  and  an  officer  of 
his  regiment  died  on  the  Isthmus,  leaving  his  widow  and  a  son 
four  years  of  age  to  return  on  the  steamer  with  us.  In  the 
double  transit  the  widow's  trunks  had  been  stolen.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  ex-Governor  Morehead,  of  Kentucky,  very  lady- 
like and  good-looking,  and  had  the  sympathy  and  assistance  of 
her  fellow-passengers. 

After  getting  on  shore,  mules  were  provided  for  the  party,  and 
it  was  agreed  that  I  should  take  care  of  the  commodore  in  cross- 

o 

ing  the  Isthmus.     He  was  old  and  feeble,  and  said  to  me, — 

"  You  will  not  abandon  me  on  the  Isthmus  in  case  I  should 
not  be  able  to  travel  ?" 

"  No,"  I  replied  ;  "  I  will  take  just  as  good  care  of  you  as 
though  you  were  my  father." 

I  had  a  hammock  and  carriers  provided,  in  case  he  should  be 
taken  ill,  and  also  a  bottle  of  brandy  to  give  him  in  small  por- 
tions from  time  to  time  as  required.  Before  we  left,  a  fine-looking 
woman  who  had  been  a  passenger  on  board  of  the  steamer,  but 
with  whom  I  had  no  personal  acquaintance,  asked  me  if  I  would 


DETAILS  OF  THE   TRIP.  241 

not  take  charge  of  her  in  crossing  the  Isthmus.  I  answered 
that  under  ordinary  circumstances  I  should  be  happy  to  do  so, 
but  as  I  had  personal  charge  of  the  commodore,  who  was  old 
and  feeble,  it  would  be  improper  in  me  to  divide  my  responsi- 
bility ;  it  would  be  better  for  her  to  look  to  some  other  members 
of  our  party,  not  encumbered. 

When  the  commodore  and  myself  mounted,  up  rode  our  lady, 
who  said,  "  I  hope  you  will  not  object  to  my  riding  with  you 
and  the  commodore :  I  am  entirely  at  home  as  a  rider,  and  I 
will  not  be  the  least  trouble  to  you."  I  assured  her  we  had  not 
the  least  objection ;  all  that  I  had  wished  her  to  understand  was 
that  I  had  to  take  care  of  the  commodore,  and  therefore  could 
not  offer  any  escort  or  protection  interfering  with  that.  She  was 
a  splendid  rider,  a  very  bright,  agreeable  woman,  and  cheered 
the  commodore  on  his  way  to  Gorgona. 

A  part  of  the  road  was  over  what  seemed  sandstone,  in  which 
mules  passing  along  for  more  than  a  century,  had  worn  holes  six 
or  eight  inches  in  depth  ;  one  mule  following  another  would  put 
his  foot  in  the  same  holes.  Passing  along,  we  would  see  an  oc- 
casional mule  thrown  over  from  its  heavy  load  and  lying  on  its 
side :  unlike  a  horse,  that  would  struggle  even  to  destruction,  it 
would  lie  quietly  until  assisted  to  rise.  Then  we  passed  along 
muddy  roads,  with  deep  holes  worn  in  them  and  filled  with  mud. 
Into  one  of  these  the  forefeet  of  my  mule  plunged,  the  girths 
broke,  and  over  I  went  into  the  mud.  The  commodore  and  his 
fair  escort  rode  on,  and  after  I  repaired  damages  I  joined  them 
again.  It  was  nightfall  and  rainy  when  we  reached  the  public 
house  at  Gorgona ;  here  I  met  my  old  classmate  and  friend  Beale, 
bound  for  California.  We  had  not  seen  each  other  for  years, 
and  spent  some  hours  in  a  friendly  chat. 

We  had  now  a  comparatively  easy  task, — that  of  going  down- 
stream in  a  canoe  twenty  miles  to  Barbacoas,  and  thence  by  rail- 
road to  Aspinwall,  where  the  steamer  Ohio  was  in  waiting  to 
carry  passeugers  to  New  York  via  Kingston,  Jamaica.  The 
canoes  were  small,  and  usually  carried  two  or  three  passengers, 
with  their  baggage.  Our  fair  travelling-companion  of  the  pre- 
vious day,  a  woman  of  perhaps  thirty,  and,  as  she  informed  us, 
a  native  of  Georgia  and  the  wife  of  an  official  in  the  San  Fran- 

16 


242  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

cisco  Custom-House,  asked  to  accompany  the  commodore  and 
myself  in  our  canoe,  and,  as  there  could  be  no  objection,  the 
request  was  granted,  all  the  more  readily  as  at  that  time  numerous 
murders  for  the  purpose  of  robbery  had  been  perpetrated  either 
along  the  road  or  by  an  asserted  "  accident"  through  the  upsetting 
of  a  canoe  and  the  drowning  of  the  occupants  and  "  loss"  of  the 
baggage.  A  more  villanous  set  than  many  among  these  canoe- 
men,  mostly  from  the  island  of  Jamaica,  could  hardly  be  found 
anywhere.  Of  the  dangers  I  incurred  during  my  journey  to 
Goodyear's  Bar  I  knew  nothing  until  after  my  exposure,  but  now 
I  was  fully  informed  of  what  might  be  expected.  We  had  a 
pair  of  ill-favored  vagabonds  to  guide  our  canoe,  who  were  ap- 
parently either  too  lazy  to  do  that,  or  quite  willing  that  the  boat 
should  capsize,  in  which  case  an  opportunity  would  be  presented 
for  drowning  us,  carrying  our  baggage  into  the  bushes,  taking 
out  whatever  was  of  value,  and  then  throwing  the  packages  into 
the  water. 

In  going  down  the  river,  on  more  than  one  occasion  I  pointed 
out  to  them  snags  ahead,  upon  which  we  were  liable  to  be  cap- 
sized, and  would  have  been,  had  the  strong  current  thrown  the 
body  of  the  canoe  broadside  across.  That  they  were  either  acute 
enough  to  know  just  how  little  exertion  was  necessary  to  avoid 
striking  a  snag,  or  were  perfectly  willing  that  we  should  strike 
it,  was  evident  to  me.  I  had  a  revolver  strapped  to  my  hip 
ready  for  use,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion  grasped  the  handle. 
Had  we  struck  a  snag  after  my  warnings  to  avoid  it,  I  should 
have  lost  no  time  in  shooting  them  in  order  to  prevent  our 
murder  and  robbery.  The  water  was  quite  clear,  and  not  very 
high,  but  still  quite  deep  enough  to  enable  them  to  drown  us 
readily  and  pass  it  off  as  an  "accident." 

The  canoe  arrived  at  Barbacoas  without  accident,  and  our  bag- 
gage was  transferred  to  the  railroad-train,  after  which  I  felt  no 
further  responsibility,  and  was  glad  to  quit  a  state  of  affairs  I 
had  endured  for  five  months  :  from  time  to  time,  it  had  been 
interesting,  instructive,  and,  as  a  novelty,  partly  enjoyable,  but, 
like  a  pdte  defoie  gras,  was  not  enjoyable  as  a  permanency. 

We  soon  boarded  the  steamer,  and  in  a  short  time  were  as 
comfortable  as  circumstances  permitted.      The  Ohio  was  built 


NEW  YORK  TO  BALTIMORE.  243 

upon  very  much  like  a  Western  steamboat,  and  was  utterly  un- 
like the  ideal  of  a  seaman  for  encountering  heavy  weather.  It 
was  always  a  wonder  to  me  why  she  had  not  been  lost  at  sea  in 
the  many  years  during  which  she  was  liable  to  encounter  the 
"cyclones"  of  to-day,  known  as  " hurricanes"  in  the  past.  The 
vessel  had  to  contend  with  the  very  strong  trade-winds  that,  with 
an  intermission  of  perhaps  six  weeks  in  the  year,  are  found 
almost  constantly  between  Aspinwall  and  Jamaica,  and  our 
progress  was  consequently  very  slow,  eight  knots  at  most  per 
hour,  and  averaging  less  in  progress,  from  a  leeward  current. 

On  our  arrival  at  Kingston  we  coaled ;  those  who  have  not 
witnessed  this  operation  will  be  interested  to  know  that  on  the 
present  occasion  a  hundred  blacks,  men,  women,  and  children, 
were  engaged  in  it.  They  passed  on  board  over  a  gang-plank, 
each  bearing  on  the  head  a  very  small  basket  of  coal,  and,  as 
the  grim  procession  filed  along,  each  individual  emptied  the  little 
basket  into  an  open  man-hole  with  a  nod  of  the  head,  then,  con- 
tinuing the  round,  passed  out  over  another  gang-plank,  and  back 
to  the  coal-pile,  to  repeat  the  operation.  The  rapidity  with  which 
this  ant-like  process  filled  the  bunkers  of  the  ship  with  coal 
seemed  almost  incredible. 

In  the  mean  time  the  passengers  strolled  on  shore,  admired 
the  cocoa  and  other  palm  trees  waving  in  the  sea-breeze,  and 
purchased  oranges,  bananas,  and  other  tropical  fruits,  among 
which  was  the  aguaeate,  known  popularly  in  our  language  as  the 
"  alligator-pear,"  before  mentioned.  A  large,  flat  cake,  baked 
very  thin,  made  of  the  cassava  root,  is  sold  there  also,  and  is  an 
excellent  food  for  the  tropics.  It  is  well  known  to  observant 
travellers  that  for  persons  visiting  the  tropics,  and  indeed  in 
travel  anywhere,  it  is  important  to  learn  what  to  eat :  whilst  a 
healthy  appetite  prompts  usually  to  a  wholesome  food,  it  does 
not  always  do  so,  and  no  one  can  go  about  the  world  with  either 
health  or  comfort  who  does  not  give  this  subject  careful  attention. 

After  a  voyage  of  a  week  from  Jamaica,  we  arrived  at  New 
York,  and  parted  company  with  our  fellow-voyagers.  When 
purchasing  my  ticket  at  the  ferry  to  go  to  Baltimore,  an  enter- 
prising thief  cut  one  of  my  pockets :  the  arrival  of  a  California 
steamer  was  always  a  season  of  activity  for  the  light-fingered 


244  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

fraternity.  He  got  nothing ;  all  that  I  had  after  paying  for  my 
ticket  was  fifty  cents,  and  that  was  in  another  pocket :  so  the 
thief  had  selected  a  victim  that,  in  the  language  of  California, 
"  did  not  pan  out  well." 

After  leaving  the  steamer  in  New  York  we  went  to  our  several 
homes  on  a  month's  leave,  upon  the  completion  of  which  we 
were  to  meet  in  Washington  and  complete  our  work,  a  part  of 
it  being  to  make  the  details  necessary  for  a  first-class  navy-yard. 
I  spent  a  part  of  my  time  at  the  country-seat  of  Mrs.  Mac- 
tavish,  known  as  the  "Folly,"  about  fifteen  miles  from  Balti- 
more, shooting,  and  looking  over  the  library  of  Charles  Carroll 
of  Carrollton,  in  which  were  many  rare  and  valuable  books. 
Mrs.  Mactavish  was  the  youngest  of  four  daughters  of  Mr. 
Richard  Caton,  an  English  gentleman.     Three  of  them  married 
abroad  :  one  married  the  elder  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, a  second  the  Duke  of  Leeds,  a  third  Lord  Stafford  :  the 
fourth  married  Mr.  Mactavish,  who  was  for  many  years  the 
British  consul  at  Baltimore.    Although  he  was  not  ailing  when  I 
left  for  California,  he  died  before  my  return  East.     I  was  quite 
alone  in  the  house,  with  the  exception  of  the  servants  who  cared 
for  it,  and  the  library  was  my  usual  resort.     I  found  a  very  fine 
edition  of  Charlevoix's  History  of  Japan,  in  French,  in  which 
were  well-produced  copies  of  Japanese  pictures.     I  had  not  seen 
the  book  before ;  it  was  interesting  not  only  from  its  contents, 
but  also,  and  doubly  so,  from  the  fact  that  Commodore  Perry 
was  then  planning  an  expedition  to  Japan  under  the  instructions 
of  Mr.  John  P.  Kennedy,  of  Maryland,  at  that  time  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  and  one  of  the  ablest  naval  secretaries  we  have  ever 
had.     I  translated  such  parts  of  the  book  as  seemed  to  me  to 
have  a  practical  bearing  in  approaching  the  Japanese,  and  took 
some  twenty  or  thirty  pages  of  it  to  Mr.  Kennedy,  and  at  his 
request  added  my  observations  upon  our  visit  to  the  lower  Bay 
of  Yedo  in  July,  1846.     As  I  was  informed,  the  only  demand 
intended  to  be  made  by  Commodore  Perry  was  for  the  right  of 
refuge  of  shipwrecked  persons,  or  of  those  whose  safety  might 
require  them  to  take  shelter  in  Japanese  ports. 

The  Japanese  Expedition  was  ably  planned  and  executed, 
and  was  a  school  of  instruction  for  the  navy  sorely  needed  at 


GEORGETO  WN.  245 

that  time,  and  of  immense  prospective  value.  It  seems  a 
neglect  that  the  only  monument  to  Commodore  Matthew  C. 
Perry — a  well-executed  statue,  in  bronze,  at  Newport,  Rhode 
Island — should  have  been  erected  at  private  expense.  Such  a 
statue  would  adorn  one  of  the  public  squares  of  Washington 
and  be  a  just  recognition  of  his  eminent  services  afloat. 

Mr.  Kennedy  also  promoted  the  survey  of  the  Paraguay 
River,  supplementing  what  Herndon  had  already  done  on  the 
Amazon.  It  was  my  fortune  to  be  the  second  lieutenant  of  the 
Water-Witch  for  a  year  or  more  when  engaged  on  that  work. 
I  joined  that  vessel  at  Norfolk  on  the  6th  of  February,  and 
two  days  later  we  sailed  for  our  destination.  The  Water- Witch 
was  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  tons,  with  feathering 
paddle-wheels  very  much  too  heavy  for  her,  and,  so  far  as  I 
know,  was  the  only  vessel  of  that  kind  we  ever  had  in  the  navy. 
We  had  fair  weather  and  were  ten  days  in  reaching  the  island 
of  St.  Thomas,  making  an  average  expenditure  of  about  ten 
tons  of  coal  daily.  After  filling  our  bunkers  and  taking  a  few 
tons  of  coal  on  deck,  we  hoped  to  reach  Maranham,  but  when 
no  longer  under  the  lee  of  the  Windward  Islands  and  within 
the  deflected  equatorial  current  of  seventy  miles  a  day  we  soon 
saw  that  our  coal  would  not  hold  out,  and  we  bore  away  for 
Georgetown,  British  Guiana,  as  the  only  place  under  our  lee 
where  coal  could  certainly  be  obtained. 

We  reached  Georgetown  on  the  4th  of  March,  and  soon  after 
began  coaling  with  indifferent  means  that  hardly  permitted  us 
to  take  in  more  coal  daily  than  we  would  burn  in  twenty-four 
hours :  this  detained  us  until  the  13th.  It  was  altogether  an 
interesting  place,  and  would  have  been  a  pleasant  one  but  for 
the  prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever.  The  friends  we  had  made 
on  shore  were  all  the  more  anxious  that  we  should  not  prolong 
our  stay  as  the  fever  was  of  a  virulent  type. 

The  canals  that  had  been  constructed  more  than  a  century 
before,  with  their  stone  walls,  reminded  us  of  their  former 
owners,  the  Dutch.  In  these  ditches  we  saw  several  of  the 
fish  that  at  times  keep  a  part  of  the  head  out  of  water,  the 
eye  being  composed  of  two  lenses,  one  of  which  looks  into 
the   water   and  the   other   into  the   air.      The   head  had  the 


246  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

contour  of  a  small  alligator  taking  its  peep  to  see  what  was 
going  on. 

A  brother  of  the  celebrated  Edinburgh  chemist,  Dr.  Turner, 
was  one  of  the  agreeable  acquaintances  we  made  at  Georgetown, 
and  we  were  much  indebted  to  him  and  other  persons  for  kind 
attentions,  as  well  as  to  Captain  Mochler,  then  in  command  of 
the  troops;  the  captain  showed  me  specimens  of  the  curare 
described  by  Humboldt  in  his  "  Valley  of  the  Orinoco,"  with 
which  the  inhabitants  of  that  region  poison  their  arrows.  It 
resembled  hard  pitch  in  appearance,  and  does  not  appear  to 
inflict  any  pain  in  producing  its  effects.  The  animal  when 
struck  by  an  arrow  poisoned  with  curare  sinks  into  a  condition 
of  lethargy  and  finally  dies.  Captain  Mochler  was  desirous  of 
giving  me  a  practical  illustration  of  its  effect,  but,  as  there  were 
no  worthless  curs  around,  I  was  quite  willing  to  take  his  word 
as  to  the  power  of  the  poison.  It  seems  to  act  by  means  of  a 
painless  paralysis  of  the  nervous  system.  The  use  of  the  poison 
does  not  injure  the  flesh  of  the  animal  killed  •  Humboldt 
mentioned  an  old  padre  who  always  killed  his  fowls  with  curare, 
as,  he  said,  it  made  them  tender. 

We  took  a  journey  on  a  railroad  of  perhaps  twenty  miles  in 
the  direction  of  Berbice,  and  saw  several  Burmese  cattle  with 
their  heavy  fore-shoulders  and  lop-ears.  The  owner  thought 
them  well  adapted  to  the  climate.  On  our  journey  we  saw  the 
cotton-stalks  from  which  is  picked  a  yellowish  cotton.  It  is 
not  an  annual,  but  lives  for  several  years,  and  is  of  the  size  of 
a  large  shrub.  It  was  not  supposed  to  be  a  profitable  variety 
to  cultivate. 

On  the  13th  we  left  Georgetown,  and  on  the  17th  went  into 
Cayenne,  experiencing  a  heavy  leeward  current  on  getting  a 
little  out  from  the  coast-line.  A  more  lugubrious  place  within 
the  tropics  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  Of  course  the 
vegetation  is  luxuriant  in  the  extreme.  A  double  row  of  royal 
palms  leading  up  to  the  Government  buildings  reminded  me  of 
Egyptian  columns  by  their  massive  proportions.  There  were  sev- 
eral companies  of  French  soldiers  and  some  thousands  of  exiles. 
There  was  no  attempt  at  production,  and  there  were  few  inhabi- 
tants save  persons  who  had  been  banished,  and  their  guards. 


CAYENNE.  247 

The  rise  of  the  tide  here  is  higher  than  elsewhere  along  the  tropi- 
cal coasts,  and  the  rainfall  on  the  high  mountains  of  the  interior  is 
unusually  heavy,  being  given  by  Guyot  as  two  hundred  and  fifty 
inches.  A  banishment  to  Cayenne  seemed  to  me  a  way  of  exe- 
cuting a  man  without  actually  passing  sentence  of  death  upon  him. 

When  in  charge  of  the  deck  during  the  mid-watch,  I  was  some- 
what startled  by  the  appearance  of  a  man  in  the  gangway,  who 
stepped  inboard.  I  asked  him  who  he  was,  and  what  was  the 
object  of  his  visit.  He  said  he  wras  a  political  prisoner,  exiled 
after  the  coup  oVetat  of  Louis  Napoleon.  He  was  an  educated 
man,  spoke  English  fairly,  and  supposed  that  he  had  attained 
his  freedom  through  reaching  the  deck  of  one  of  our  national 
vessels.  I  had  to  dispel  this  illusion,  and  told  him  that  we  were 
in  a  French  port,  enjoying  its  hospitalities,  and  could  not  think 
of  violating  our  obligations.  He  insisted  on  the  captain's  being 
informed  of  his  presence  and  his  demands,  which  was  done, — 
of  course  without  result  favorable  to  his  ideas.  At  that  time 
criminals  of  all  kinds  were  banished  to  Cayenne ;  whether  this 
man's  story  was  true  or  false  mattered  not,  whatever  our  indi- 
vidual sympathies  might  be.  He  had  paddled  alongside  in  a 
very  small,  leaky  canoe,  using  a  piece  of  plank  as  a  paddle, 
and  after  pleading  with  us  for  an  hour  he  went  into  his  canoe 
and  paddled  on  shore  again.  We  were  told  that  a  number  of 
the  exiles  escaped  in  boats  to  Dutch  Guiana,  that  a  number 
committed  suicide,  and  that  by  far  the  greater  number  died  from 
the  effects  of  the  climate.  A  more  hopeless  or  forlorn  banish- 
ment can  hardly  be  imagined.  We  left  the  second  day,  unable 
to  add  to  our  coal-supply. 

British  Guiana,  despite  its  deadly  climate,  has  an  extensive 
export  and  import  trade.  The  negro  population  was  large  ;  and 
although  we  saw  the  Indians  from  the  interior,  they  neither 
formed  any  considerable  part  of  the  coast  population,  nor  added 
materially  to  the  products. 

A  voyage  of  five  days  brought  us  to  Maranham.  A  consider- 
able indentation  in  the  coast  after  reaching  the  wide  mouth  of 
the  river  Amazon  enabled  us  to  escape  the  current  until  we  were 
near  our  port,  and  also  the  force  of  the  trade- winds.  The  shoal 
grounds  near  the  outer  limits  of  the  Amazon  are  ooze,  so  soft 


248         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

that  a  lead  in  sounding  sinks  several  feet  in  it ;  in  consequence 
we  found  ourselves  held  back,  the  revolutions  of  the  paddles 
being  greatly  retarded  by  the  ooze  through  which  the  body  of 
the  vessel  was  passing  in  part.  On  heading  more  to  seaward  we 
soon  got  into  deeper  water,  and  our  paddles  made  their  usual 
number  of  revolutions.  The  engineer  in  charge  was  a  mere 
youth,  and  inert  withal.  The  great  weight  of  the  wheels  per- 
haps caused  the  shaft-bearings  on  the  vessel's  side  to  settle.  We 
should  have  attempted  to  line  them  at  Georgetown  had  it  not 
been  for  the  prevalence  of  the  fever ;  the  operation  was  on  that 
account  deferred  until  we  should  reach  Maranham.  It  was  in- 
tended that  this  should  be  done  while  we  were  engaged  in  coaling. 
As  a  result  of  laziness  and  ignorance,  we  had  not  made  our  in- 
efficient preparations  when  we  had  finished  coaling.  It  was 
supposed  that  a  little  pair  of  jack-screws  with  a  plank  between 
them  as  a  bearing  under  the  shaft,  placed  on  the  deck  just  as 
near  the  ship's  side  as  possible,  aided  by  a  little  screw  placed  on 
the  end  of  a  rod  on  the  outer  part  of  the  wheel,  and  secured  to 
the  mast-head,  would  suffice.  From  the  lack  of  leverage  the 
idea  was  ridiculous ;  and  after  wasting  several  days,  and  having 
a  man  knocked  overboard  from  the  wheel-house  by  something 
giving  way,  his  arm  being  broken  at  the  same  time,  I  suggested 
to  the  engineer  a  simple  and  obviously  effective  means  of  raising 
the  shafts ;  although  he  assented,  he  was  still  unwilling  to  ask 
the  captain  to  adopt  the  means  proposed.  There  were  a  number 
of  lighters  of  twenty  tons'  displacement  anchored  near  us  j  the 
proposition  was  by  means  of  cleats  to  secure  stout  timbers  on  the 
vessel's  sides,  then  lash  and  wedge  these  under  the  wheels  after 
the  lighters  had  been  filled  with  water :  when  the  lighters  were 
baled  out  they  would  of  course  raise  the  weight  of  the  wheels, 
which  was  not  one-half  of  the  weight  they  would  float.  This 
was  finally  done  at  my  suggestion  and  under  my  personal  super- 
intendence, notwithstanding  one  of  the  younger  engineers  screwed 
down  a  pillar-block  to  prevent  the  shaft  from  rising.  On  bailing 
out  the  water,  as  soon  as  the  timbers  upon  which  the  wheel  was 
resting  began  to  crack  I  knew  that  some  rascality  was  being 
practised  to  prevent  the  operation,  and  on  reaching  the  deck  I 
saw  what  it  was.     We  were  a  fortnight  in  Maranham,  having 


RIO  JANEIRO.  249 

been  detained  more  than  a  week  through  incapacity.  At  times 
I  have  doubted  whether  the  shafts  really  needed  lining ;  but,  at 
any  rate,  they  were  raised  half  an  inch  or  more  at  the  bearing 
on  the  side  of  the  vessel. 

It  was  raining  pretty  much  all  the  time  we  were  at  Maranham. 
The  town  was  in  every  respect  uninteresting,  although  it  had 
some  commercial  importance,  and  has  a  river  capable  of  trans- 
porting products  from  a  considerable  distance  in  the  interior. 
We  were  glad  to  get  away,  and,  keeping  as  well  in  with  the 
coast  as  we  could,  soon  rounded  Cape  St.  Roque,  and  after  a  six 
days'  voyage  entered  the  port  of  Pernambuco. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

Pernambuco — Eio  Janeiro — Montevideo — Fever  on  Shipboard — A  Pampero 
— The  Frigates  Congress  and  Jamestown — General  Urquiza  besieging 
Buenos  Ayres — Ostriches— The  Eio  de  la  Plata — The  Kiver  Parana — Point 
Diamante — Capturing  a  Buck — The  Jaguar — The  Kiver  Paraguay — Be- 
marks  on  the  Country  and  People — Lopez  gives  the  Naval  Officers  a  Excep- 
tion— The  Water- Witch — Assumption — San  Pedro — A  Grand  Ball — The 
President  and  his  Family — Customs  of  the  People — A  Visit  to  the  Indians 
— Securing  Specimens  of  Animals — Excursion  to  Villa  Kica — A  Tiger- 
Hunter — Expedition  of  Commodore  Shubrick. 

Pernambuco  is  a  charming-looking  place  from  the  sea,  par- 
ticularly the  high  lands  towards  the  north,  known  as  Olinda,  a 
word  corresponding  to  the  English  expression  "  Oh,  beautiful  !" 
It  has  a  natural  mole  of  smooth  coral  rock  several  feet  above 
the  sea- level ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  depth  of  water  within  the 
mole  is  only  fifteen  feet. 

Our  consul  there  at  that  time,  a  gentleman  from  Boston,  was 
good  enough  to  take  me  to  his  country  residence,  some  three 
miles  out  of  the  city,  over  an  excellent  road.  His  night-bloom- 
ing cereuses  were  in  perfection,  and  charming  to  see.  Nothing 
like  them  can  be  found  out  of  the  tropics. 

Our  great  dread,  the  yellow  fever,  was  here  too,  but  in  a  less 
virulent  form  than  at  Georgetown.  We  left  in  four  days,  and 
after  a  pleasant  voyage  of  eight  days  reached  Rio  Janeiro.    Here 


250  THE  OLD   N AW  AND    THE  NEW. 

we  found  the  yellow  fever  in  a  virulent  form ;  ever  since  its 
appearance,  a  little  more  than  three  years  before,  it  had  been 
endemic,  and  many  residents,  both  foreigners  and  natives,  as 
well  as  sailors  in  port,  had  died.  We  held  little  intercourse 
with  the  shore,  and  left  in  three  days  for  Montevideo,  where  we 
felt  we  should  reach  a  safe  resting-place.  After  sailing  we  had 
several  cases  of  violent  fever,  but  all  were  treated  successfully. 

Yellow  fever  is  justly  the  dread  of  navy  officers ;  once  fairly 
established  on  board  of  a  vessel,  its  germ  is  often  reproduced 
in  after-years,  when  circumstances  favor  it  in  tropical  regions, 
although  the  vessel  may  have  been  subjected  to  a  winter  at 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  with  open  hatches,  in  the  hope 
of  "  freezing  it  out."  This  idea  of  "  freezing  out"  is  now  recog- 
nized to  be  fallacious.  More  officers  and  seamen  in  our  navy 
have  died  from  yellow  fever  than  have  been  lost  at  sea  and  killed 
in  battle :  so  this  insidious  disease  may  well  excite  the  appre- 
hension of  those  who  are  exposed  to  it,  and  be  met  with  all 
possible  precautions  on  the  part  of  those  who  within  certain 
limits  can  guard  against  infection. 

Three  days  out  from  Rio  we  encountered  a  "  pampero,"  an 
extremely  violent  southwest  wind,  corresponding  in  the  southern 
hemisphere  to  our  heaviest  northwest  gales.  The  vessel  was  put 
head  to  it, — which  should  never  be  done,  but,  instead,  some  three 
points  on  the  one  bow  or  the  other,  and  such  fore-and-aft  sail  as 
the  vessel  will  bear,  and  the  engines  only  used  sufficiently  to  keep 
them  in  motion.  We  pitched  off  our  jib-boom,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  get  it  inboard  to  prevent  the  rigging  from  fouling 
our  wheels  by  winding  around  and  tying  up  our  feathering  pad- 
dles. I  went  forward  with  Sawyer,  our  gunner's  mate,  a  plucky 
little  seaman,  and  half  a  dozen  men,  to  do  the  hauling.  A  grap- 
line  was  thrown  by  Sawyer  into  the  rigging  on  the  jib-boom, 
and  by  means  of  a  tackle  after  an  hour's  hard  work  we  secured 
the  spar,  which  until  then  had  been  mauling  the  bows  heavily. 
The  night  was  very  dark,  and  the  sea  broke  heavily  over  the  bows, 
so  that  at  times  we  found  it  necessary  to  hold  on  to  the  rigging 
to  avoid  being  swept  aft  and  perhaps  overboard.  I  felt  relieved 
when  we  had  effected  our  object  and  got  to  a  place  less  dangerous 
to  ourselves.    The  gale  was  not  long-lived :  the  next  day  it  abated. 


OSTRICHES.  251 

Before  reaching  our  port  we  had  one  of  the  most  perfect  opti- 
cal deceptions  that  I  have  ever  seen  at  sea ;  a  number  of  what 
seemed  to  be  long  sand-bars  just  awash  by  the  sea  were  visible 
only  a  mile  distant :  the  effect  was  produced  by  large  schools 
of  a  small  shrimp  upon  which  whales  feed,  when  the  whiskers 
of  the  cetaceans,  known  as  "  whalebone"  in  commerce,  serve  a 
very  useful  purpose  in  scooping  up  the  little  creatures. 

We  reached  Montevideo  on  the  7th  of  May,  and  found  there 
the  frigates  Congress  and  Jamestown.  Although  our  duties  were 
distinctly  apart  from  those  of  the  squadron,  the  commanding 
officer  held  on  to  the  Water-Witch  for  several  months. 

General  Urquiza,  of  Entre  Rios,  was  then  besieging  the  city 
of  Buenos  Ayres ;  his  batteries  were  established  a  full  mile  away, 
and,  firing  round  shot  as  they  occasionally  did,  only  served  to 
frighten  timid  people.  His  guns  were  twenty-four-pounders ;  a 
round  shot  would  make  a  hole  through  an  adobe  house  and  do 
no  further  damage.  We  were  sent  up  to  Buenos  Ayres  on  the 
25th ;  thence  into  the  Gualeguay,  one  hundred  miles  distant,  a 
river  which  separates  Uruguay  from  Entre  Rios,  where  we  spent 
several  days,  visiting  the  shore  frequently,  and  seeing  ostriches 
for  the  first  time  on  their  native  heath.  The  American  ostrich  is 
gray,  and  much  inferior  in  size  to  the  African.  It  was  surpris- 
ing to  see  them  walk  away  when  an  attempt,  however  wary,  was 
made  to  approach  them.  Their  long  strides  counted  so  greatly 
that  the  effort  of  a  man  to  circumvent  them,  by  short  cuts  or 
otherwise,  was  ridiculous ;  the  birds  even  seemed  to  enjoy  it ; 
they  would  stretch  out  their  long  necks  and  assume  an  attitude  of 
seeming  surprise  or  inquiry  as  to  what  the  man  could  be  about. 

The  country  bordering  the  Gualeguay  may  be  regarded  as 
the  ideal  of  a  cattle-raiser ;  it  is  moderately  high  and  rolling, 
superbly  watered,  never  suffering  from  great  heat,  cold,  or 
drought,  near  a  market,  and  perfectly  healthy.  The  time  of 
our  visit  was  near  the  last  of  the  disturbances  of  the  military 
jefes, — or  what  we  should  call  military  demagogues, — who  ever 
since  the  overthrow  of  the  Spanish  authority  had  afflicted  the 
whole  of  that  superb  country  as  far  as  peopled,  from  Paraguay, 
within  the  tropics,  to  Patagonia,  the  extremity  of  the  continent, 
in  the  fifty- third  degree  of  south  latitude. 


252  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

The  country  bordering  the  river  was  well  stocked  with  quail, 
which,  singularly  enough,  never  go  in  flocks.  A  large  partridge, 
which  had  a  very  beautiful  body  and  an  ungainly  head,  was  also 
found  in  large  numbers.  Deer  were  to  be  seen  almost  every- 
where, and  birds  of  prey  abounded.  There  was  one  little  fellow, 
iron-gray  in  body,  ornamented  with  fancy  colors,  and  having 
sharp  spurs  on  his  wings  just  within  his  pinions ;  what  use  he 
made  of  these  spurs  I  was  unable  to  discover.  Fantastic  men 
practise  ornamentation  with  more  or  less  conventional  effect, 
whether  in  good  or  in  bad  taste,  but  Nature  always  has  her 
purpose  in  ornamentation  and  in  weapons,  such  as  the  spurs  on 
the  wings  in  this  case. 

About  the  middle  of  June  we  returned  to  Buenos  Ayres, 
where  we  lay  for  a  month,  awaiting  the  raising  of  the  siege  by 
General  Urquiza,  that  he  might  withdraw  his  forces  gradually 
by  land  and  come  on  board  of  the  Water- Witch  with  his  staff, 
and  put  some  of  his  rear-guard  on  board  of  small  vessels.  This 
was  effected  on  the  17th  of  July,  and  they  were  carried  by 
us  and  landed  in  Entre  Bios,  not  as  participants,  but  for  the 
common  advantage  of  both  belligerents.  The  water  was  shoal 
for  a  considerable  distance  out  above  Buenos  Ayres ;  a  hundred 
or  more  horsemen  would  ride  out  to  a  depth  of  two  feet,  where 
ships'  boats  were  in  waiting ;  they  would  then  get  in  the  boats, 
taking  their  saddles  and  bridles  from  the  horses,  and  as  soon 
as  released  the  animals  would  scamper  for  the  shore.  Several 
hundred  of  their  most  indifferent  horses  were  thus  left;  but, 
where  the  ordinary  market  value  of  a  fairly  good  horse  was  a 
doubloon,  that  was  no  great  sacrifice.  The  close  of  the  war 
between  Entre  Bios  and  Buenos  Ayres  released  us,  and  enabled 
us  to  make  preparations  for  going  up  the  Paraguay  Biver.  We 
went  to  Montevideo,  purchased  the  hulk  of  a  brig,  loaded  her 
with  coal  to  tow  up  to  Assumption,  the  capital  of  Paraguay,  and 
on  the  26th  of  August  the  Water- Witch  left  Montevideo  with 
the  hulk  in  tow. 

As  is  generally  known,  the  Bio  de  la  Plata  is  a  great  estuary 
of  the  sea,  into  which  falls  the  drainage  of  the  Paraguay  and 
Parana  Bivers.  It  is  so  wide  at  Montevideo,  and  even  at  Buenos 
Ayres,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  above,  that  the  coasts 


THE   RIVER   PARANA.  253 

opposite  are  below  the  horizon  to  each  other.  The  water  is 
shoal,  with  several  dangerous  sand-banks  in  the  lower  part,  and 
above  Buenos  Ayres  muddy  and  entirely  fresh.  At  the  island 
of  Martin  Garcia,  forty  miles  above  Buenos  Ayres,  there  is  a 
bar  of  sand  preventing  vessels  of  greater  draught  than  twelve 
feet  from  passing,  except  when  pamperos  blow  and  raise  the 
water  four  or  even  six  feet.  Not  far  above  the  bar,  deep, 
narrow  channel-ways  between  high  reeds  are  found,  and  some 
miles  higher  up,  small  trees  grow  on  the  marshes.  There  are 
evidences  of  the  occasional  submergence  of  these  trees  and  of 
the  tall  reeds.  It  is  not  until  the  vicinity  of  Rosario  is  reached 
that  solid  ground  forms  a  part  of  the  shore-line :  at  that  place 
the  bank  is  some  thirty  feet  above  the  ordinary  river  level. 
Thence  to  Assumption,  eight  hundred  miles  above,  solid  land  is 
approached  on  the  one  side  or  the  other  at  considerable  distances 
apart,  but  never  on  both  sides  at  the  same  point ;  no  narrow 
land-barrier  has  been  broken  through,  as  is  the  case  in  many 
rivers  that  have  silted  up  the  low  grounds  in  transporting 
debris  towards  the  sea.  One  hundred  miles  above  Rosario  a 
bluff  bank  one  hundred  feet  or  more  in  height  enfilades  the 
swift  channel  of  the  river  lying  farther  down.  Some  fifty  years 
ago  Rosas  of  Buenos  Ayres  had  fortified  these  bluffs ;  in  an 
attack  by  British  gun-boats  they  suffered  considerably  from  a 
plunging  fire.  This  was  before  shell  guns  had  come  into 
common  use. 

We  entered  the  river  Parana  on  the  2d  of  September,  and 
four  days  afterwards  reached  Rosario.  We  found  it  a  busy 
place,  many  ox-cart  caravans  from  Tucuman  and  Cordova 
coming  there  instead  of  to  Buenos  Ayres,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  farther.  Their  loads  were  almost  entirely  of  hides  and 
tallow,  and  on  their  return,  cargoes  were  taken  to  supply  the 
simple  wants  of  a  pastoral  people.  As  the  wagons  passed  along, 
their  wooden  axles  and  wheels  without  tires  made  a  screech- 
ing noise  that  could  be  heard  for  miles.  They  were  noisy 
without  melody,  and  quite  automatic  in  delivery.  Three 
days'  more  steaming  brought  us  to  Point  Diamante :  the  land 
here  rises  gradually  from  the  river,  until,  about  two  miles 
inland,  an  elevation  of  two  hundred  feet  is  reached.     A  vil- 


254  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

lage  of  several  hundred  inhabitants  was  located  on  the  high 
ground. 

With  the  coal-hulk  in  tow,  a  current  of  two  miles  an  hour 
against  us,  and  being  engaged  in  making  a  running  survey  as 
wTe  proceeded,  our  progress  was  necessarily  slow.  We  anchored 
daily,  near  sunset,  and  usually  took  a  breast-line  ashore  and 
made  it  fast  to  a  tree,  both  from  the  steamer  and  from  the  hulk. 
We  reached  Corrientes,  where  the  waters  of  the  Parana  and 
Paraguay  join,  on  the  1st  of  October,  and  Assumption,  the 
capital  of  Paraguay,  one  week  later.  There  were  several  break- 
ages of  straps  to  the  engine  to  be  looked  after,  and  other  repairs 
required,  which  detained  us  at  times.  We  took  advantage  of 
such  occasions  to  go  on  shore  with  our  guns.  At  San  Pedro 
we  found  droves  of  deer ;  I  shot  a  fine  buck  and  took  him  on 
board,  but  we  found  the  venison  inferior,  although  the  animal 
was  in  good  condition.  Late  one  evening  we  came  across  birds 
very  much  like  the  Sumatran  game-fowl,  with  a  shiny  coal- 
black  plumage ;  the  bird  could  use  its  wings  as  well  as  any 
other  pheasant.  We  shot  several,  and  found  them  of  excellent 
flavor.  There  was  a  large  bird,  quite  as  large  as  our  turkey, 
with  something  of  the  turkey's  appearance  and  manner  of  flight, 
that  sat  upon  trees  on  the  borders  of  marshy  grounds.  On 
shooting  them  we  found  they  had  long  legs,  and  evidently  sub- 
sisted on  what  they  picked  up  in  the  marshes.  They  were  not 
relished  as  food,  and  hence  we  molested  them  no  more.  They 
were  called  water-turkeys. 

Wherever  houses  or  cultivated  lands  were  seen  from  the  river, 
we  observed  four  posts  some  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  set  in  the 
ground,  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  apart,  forming  a  square,  with  a 
kind  of  roofed-box  on  top,  reached  by  ladders.  On  inquiry,  we 
learned  that  these  were  retreats  from  the  attacks  of  the  mosqui- 
toes, who  in  pursuit  of  their  game  never  soared  so  high.  On 
the  river  itself  these  insects  were  exceedingly  numerous  and 
bloodthirsty.  From  what  I  know  of  the  Mississippi  River  and 
some  other  regions,  not  excepting  parts  of  New  Jersey,  it  occurs  to 
me  that  the  Paraguayan  constructions  might  be  made  with  great 
comfort  to  the  inhabitants  in  some  sections  of  our  own  country. 

One  morning,  as  we  were  making  our  running  survey,  a  large 


THE  RIVER  PARAGUAY.  255 

buck  was  seen  swimming  across  the  river ;  the  steamer  was  turned 
so  as  to  head  him  off,  a  boat  was  lowered,  and  Murdaugh  and  I, 
armed  with  boarding-pikes,  and  accompanied  by  two  oarsmen, 
gave  chase.  The  animal  swam  nobly,  and,  reaching  a  sand-bar, 
gave  a  bound  or  two  that  looked  as  though  he  had  made  his 
escape ;  but  he  plunged  into  deep  water  again,  and,  as  the  bar, 
had  enough  water  to  enable  our  boat  to  cross,  we  were  soon  on 
him.  A  lasso  made  of  the  boat's  painter  was  thrown  over  his 
antlers,  and  he  was  captured.  He  was  so  large  and  strong  that 
we  were  obliged  to  kill  him  by  sticking  a  pike  into  his  spinal 
column,  in  order  to  make  ourselves  secure  against  his  thrusts. 
On  getting  him  on  board  we  found  that,  although  he  was  only 
half  grown,  his  weight  was  two  hundred  and  eighty  pounds. 
He  belonged  to  a  species  known  as  marsh-deer,  which  abound 
in  the  region  of  Lake  Iberia,  as  it  is  called  in  Corrientes,  a 
region  consisting  of  marshes  and  low  grounds  covering  many 
hundreds  of  square  miles,  of  which  little  was  known  at  that 
time. 

The  vicinity  of  the  town  of  Corrientes  just  below  the  entrance 
of  the  Paraguay  is  a  beautiful  country,  high  and  gently  undulat- 
ing, with  small  ponds  in  the  low  grounds.  In  these  ponds  I 
first  saw  the  Victoria  Regia ;  the  ribbed  leaves  were  five  feet  in 
diameter,  and  capable  of  sustaining  the  weight  of  a  man.  Upon 
the  ponds  were  many  wild  ducks,  mostly  teal  and  mallard,  and 
the  uplands  abounded  in  game.  Considering  the  climate,  and 
other  conditions  favoring  life  and  its  enjoyments,  there  are  few 
countries,  if  any  on  the  globe,  so  beneficent  to  man  as.  that 
region. 

As  stated  before,  the  Parana  River  comes  in  from  the  east- 
ward at  Corrientes,  and  some  hundred  miles  farther  up  trends  to 
the  north,  the  country  lying  north  and  west  of  it  and  east  of  the 
Paraguay  River  being  now  known  geographically  as  Paraguay. 
Probably  below  Corrientes  there  is  no  one  channel  between  solid 
banks ;  it  is  constantly  separated  by  islands  lapping  each  other, 
so  that  it  will  be  a  work  of  labor  in  the  future  to  map  them 
satisfactorily.  In  periods  of  high  water  these  islands  are  to  a 
considerable  extent  submerged,  and  hence  are  not  habitable  for 
man.     The  interior  solid  lands  visible  from  the  river  from  time 


256  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

to  time  are  not  high,  and  until  reaching  the  vicinity  of  Assump- 
tion no  abrupt  hills  are  seen ;  six  miles  below  that  city  there  are 
two  near  the  left  bank  perhaps  three  hundred  feet  above  the 
river  level.  Although  in  some  respects  the  Paraguay  resembles 
the  Mississippi  River,  in  another  it  is  like  the  Nile, — in  its 
periodical  high  and  low  waters.  At  Assumption  the  river  is 
quite  deep,  and  the  current  usually  two  and  a  half  miles  an  hour. 
Looking  to  the  westward,  from  a  church-top,  two  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  river,  a  flat  grassy  plain  is  seen  extending 
to  the  horizon  twenty  miles  distant ;  this  land  forms  a  part  of 
the  Gran  Chaco,  a  country  of  rather  indefinite  borders,  lying 
north  of  the  province  of  Santa  Fe,  east  of  the  Andes,  and  south 
of  Matto-Grosso ;  the  inhabitants  are  wild  Indians,  with  the 
exception  of  a  part  of  Bolivia  that  is  sparsely  populated.  The 
Indian  tribes  in  the  Chaco  bordering' on  Paraguay  are  known  as 
the  Tobas,  and  are  not  numerous.  They  have  had  so  little  inter- 
course with  the  whites  that  they  have  no  desire  to  possess  them- 
selves of  fire-arms,  being  content  with  their  bows  and  arrows  and 
a  club  which  they  carry,  which  must  be  thrown  with  considerable 
dexterity  to  be  of  use  in  killing  game.  They  have  an  abundant 
supply  of  horses,  but  no  cattle ;  so  we  may  infer  that  they,  like 
the  Parisians,  eat  horse-flesh. 

The  low  islands  of  which  I  have  made  mention,  that  are 
subject  to  overflow,  extend  for  a  length  of  two  thousand  miles, 
following  the  course  of  the  stream,  and  are  the  favorite  haunts 
of  jaguars  and  animals  upon  which  they  prey,  such  as  the  tapir, 
the  carpincho,  and  the  marsh-deer ;  there  are  also  pythons  in 
great  number,  but  we  saw  none  of  great  size.  The  carpinchos 
probably  furnish  the  jaguar  with  more  food  than  all  the  other 
wild  animals ;  as  they  are  numerous  and  their  food-supply  un- 
limited, they  would  soon  cover  the  country  bordering  the  water- 
courses were  it  not  for  their  enemy  the  jaguar.  The  carpincho 
is  not  often  seen  in  menageries,  and  therefore  I  will  describe  it. 
With  the  exception  of  the  ears,  which  are  small  and  round,  the 
head  resembles  that  of  a  rabbit ;  it  has  the  same  long  hairs  or 
whiskers  on  its  cheeks.  When  sitting  on  its  haunches,  in  pose 
and  appearance  it  is  quite  like  a  rabbit.  When  it  walks,  its 
movement  and  appearance  resemble  those  of  the  hog ;  it  has  hair 


REMARKS  ON  THE   COUNTRY  AND   PEOPLE.  257 

an  inch  in  length,  brown  in  color,  is  semi-amphibious,  like  the 
tapir,  and  when  full-grown  weighs  about  two  hundred  pounds. 
When  out  of  the  water  the  animal  would  fall  an  easy  prey  to  a 
jaguar  pouncing  upon  it  from  an  overhanging  tree.  Unlike  the 
tapir,  which  is  omnivorous,  it  lives  on  aquatic  roots :  it  is  the 
largest  rodent  known. 

The  sources  of  the  Paraguay  are  in  an  immense  extent  of 
marshy  land  in  the  Matto-Grosso  district ;  and  there  being  two 
distinct  rainy  seasons  in  that  region,  one  of  which,  however,  is 
much  more  pronounced  than  the  other,  there  are  two  annual 
rises  occurring  with  great  regularity  in  the  season.  These  high 
waters  bring  down  considerable  masses  of  the  camelote,  a  species 
of  water-lily  that  grows  in  the  arroyas  and  riachos  (lateral  and 
inferior  channels)  in  ordinary  depths  of  ten  or  even  fifteen  feet, 
the  stem  frequently  being  twenty  feet  or  more  in  length.  When 
high  water  comes,  the  buoyancy  of  the  stems  and  the  additional 
resistance  of  the  leaves  to  an  increased  current  detach  them  from 
the  bottom  and  mat  them  together.  Often  a  tree  forms  the 
nucleus  of  a  very  heavy  mass,  and  large  snakes  bask  upon  it  as 
it  floats  down.  The  camelote  has  a  small  lilac-colored  flower 
growing  in  loose  clumps  several  inches  in  length ;  broken  up  in 
the  course  of  the  long  distance  traversed,  they  are  frequently 
seen  in  small  quantities  as  far  down  as  Buenos  Ayres.  What 
seems  singular,  alligators  do  not  inhabit  Paraguayan  waters  to 
any  considerable  extent,  if  at  all.  We  saw  none ;  and  yet  it 
would  be  strange  if  none  are  to  be  found  within  that  immense 
water-shed  that  empties  into  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  when  they  are 
so  numerous  on  the  coast  of  Central  America  and  the  northern 
coast  of  South  America,  as  well  as  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Assumption  had  within  its  limits  perhaps  five  thousand  in- 
habitants, at  least  two-thirds  of  whom  were  mostly  of  Guarani 
blood  and  habitually  spoke  their  native  language,  although  all 
the  inhabitants  in  the  towns  and  many  in  the  country  used  a 
good  many  Spanish  words  even  in  speaking  Guarani.  The 
vicinity  of  Assumption,  for  miles  around  at  least,  is  sandy,  and 
the  country  is  thickly  populated.  The  inhabitants  were  much 
neater  in  dress  and  cleaner  in  appearance  than  those  bordering 
the  river  at  Corrientes  and  elsewhere.     The  government  monop- 

17 


258  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

olized  the  entire  products  of  the  country,  as  it  had  done  ever 
since  Francia  became  Dictator;  and  this  was  all  the  more 
readily  effected  as  the  river  furnished  the  only  means  of  com- 
munication with  the  commercial  world. 

Paraguay,  in  1810,  followed  the  lead  of  the  revolting  Amer- 
ican provinces  of  Spain,  and  declared  her  independence.  Being 
so  far  from  the  sea-coast,  and  steam  navigation  being  then  un- 
known, her  independence  was  effected  by  assertion  rather  than 
by  force.  Four  years  later  Dr.  Francia  became  Dictator :  he 
maintained  his  authority  for  thirty-six  years,  all  of  which  were 
marked  by  great  atrocity  towards  the  best  people  of  Paraguay. 
He  died  in  1840,  at  the  age  of  eighty- four,  and  four  years  after- 
wards Carlos  Antonio  Lopez  became  President  for  life.  He 
had  virtually  been  Dictator  for  ten  years  when  we  arrived  at 
Assumption,  and  maintained  the  same  control  as  his  predecessor, 
but  his  conduct  was  not  marked  by  brutality.  The  whole  ex- 
port and  import  trade  was  virtually  a  government  monopoly ; 
no  one  could  come  into  or  leave  the  country  without  the  per- 
mission of  Lopez.  The  superiority  of  the  Paraguay  tea  over 
that  of  Uruguay  in  South  America,  and  the  hide  and  timber 
export,  could  not  fail  to  make  Lopez  quite  wealthy,  the  more 
so  as  probably  the  living  expenses  of  his  family  did  not  amount 
to  one  thousand  dollars  yearly. 

In  my  belief,  the  first  national  vessel  permitted  to  visit  Para- 
guayan waters  was  the  Water-Witch.  Soon  after  our  arrival 
Lopez  gave  an  official  reception  to  the  captain,  who  was  accom- 
panied by  several  of  the  officers.  It  took  place  at  the  Cabildo, 
or  Government-house.  Lopez  was  a  large,  heavy  man,  ap- 
parently three-fourths  Indian,  fleshy,  with  massive  jowls;  he 
sat  behind  a  table,  arrayed  in  a  gorgeous  uniform,  a  large  cocked 
hat  upon  his  head,  with  a  large  ostrich  feather  upon  it,  which  I 
think  was  blue.  After  a  formal  introduction,  the  captain  stated 
that  the  object  of  his  visit  was  to  institute  friendly  relations 
between  his  country  and  Paraguay,  and  to  promote  their  com- 
mon advantage  if  practicable ;  the  vessel  he  commanded  was  of 
light  draught,  and  if  his  Excellency  would  allow  it,  he  would 
be  pleased  to  ascend  the  Paraguay  River  as  far  as  possible,  and 
by  means  of  a  smaller  steamer,  which  he  would  have  built  at 


THE    WATER-WITCH.  259 

Assumption  with  the  permission  of  his  Excellency,  he  would  en- 
deavor to  reach  the  head-waters  of  the  Pilcomayo,  leading  into 
Bolivia,  and  those  of  the  Vermejo,  leading  into  the  Gran  Chaco. 

His  Excellency  had  been  furnished  in  advance  with  a  trans- 
lation, and  when  the  captain  had  concluded,  he  stood  up,  laid 
his  cocked  hat  on  the  table  before  him,  and  said  he  was  grati- 
fied to  see  us  in  Paraguay  and  would  attentively  consider  the 
captain's  requests  and  communicate  with  him  at  an  early  day. 
Then  he  bowed,  put  on  his  cocked  hat,  and  his  visitors  took 
their  leave.  Permission  was  soon  given  for  the  Water- Witch 
to  ascend  to  the  limit  of  Paraguayan  territory,  adjoining  the 
large  territory  of  Brazil  known  as  the  Matto-Grosso.  He  was 
not  willing  for  the  Water-Witch  to  go  higher  up.  The  captain 
went  beyond  the  prescribed  limit  to  Corumba,  only  a  short 
distance,  which  brought  us  into  disfavor  with  Lopez. 

In  the  Matto-Grosso  district  the  officers  visited  a  settlement 
of  Indians  said  to  number  five  thousand  souls.  It  had  been 
formed  within  ten  years  by  two  Italian  Jesuit  priests  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Brazilian  government.  They  had  taught  the 
men  to  cultivate  the  ground,  and  the  use  of  fire-arms,  and  the 
women  to  spin  and  to  weave,  and  the  girls  music  and  dancing. 
The  settlement  enjoyed  peace  and  plenty,  and  had  a  community 
of  goods.  The  officers  were  as  much  surprised  as  gratified  on 
making  a  visit  to  this  Arcadia.  No  force  was  employed  in  es- 
tablishing the  community,  and  none  in  maintaining  it,  beyond 
the  moral  force  of  two  intelligent,  excellent  men  who  appreciated 
the  fact  that  the  religious  instruction  which  they  gave  would  be 
futile  if  not  supplemented  by  conditions  of  life  that  would  enable 
the  community  to  live  in  conformity  with  their  religious  teach- 
ings. The  officers  danced  with  the  girls,  and  were  charmed  with 
their  sense  of  propriety,  their  graces,  and  their  accomplishments. 

The  Water- Witch  returned  to  Assumption  on  the  26th  of 
December.  I  had  been  left  there  to  build  a  small  flat-floored 
steamboat,  employing  the  boat-carpenters  of  Paraguay.  They 
could  hew  a  piece  of  timber  admirably,  and  soon  had  a  keel 
sixty  feet  in  length,  cross  floor-pieces,  and  knees  upon  which  the 
side  plankings  were  bolted.  The  sides  were  thirty  inches  in 
depth,  and  the  deck  composed  of  hatches  that  were  laid  flush 


260         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

with  the  top.     The  planking  was  of  cedar  roughly  sawed  and 
afterwards  hewed  ;    the  Paraguayans  did  not   use  the  plane. 
Stanchions  and  a  raised  fore-and-aft  centre-piece  supported  a 
canvas  cover  which  sheltered  us  from  the  weather,  aided  by  a 
little  thin  planking  above  the  hull.     When  the  boiler  and  en- 
gines were  placed  and  the  men  on  board,  the  draught  of  the 
boat  was  eight  inches.      She  was  very  easily  propelled,  but, 
owing  to  the  foaming  of  the  boiler,  a  defect  which  was  never 
obviated,  she  could  hardly  be  called  a  success.     Large  globular 
castings  were  afterwards  put  upon  the  boiler,  but  still  it  foamed. 
After  the  Pilcomayo,  as  she  was  called,  was  completed,  I  took 
her  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  up  the  Paraguay  River ;  then 
into  the  Jujuy,  a  small  stream  on  the  left  bank  in  the  direction 
of  the  yerbales,  or  the  district  where  the  Paraguay  tea  is  culti- 
vated.    The  country  was  beautifully  undulating,  the  elevations 
of  little  height,  and  in  the  distance  were  evidently  greater  eleva- 
tions.    The  town  of  San  Pedro  was  situated  about  two  miles 
distant  from  the  landing,  across  a  very  rich,  level  plain.     The 
appearance  of  a  little  steamer  in  that  river  was  a  notable  event. 
The  vessel  was  soon  visited  by  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
that  could  get  away  from  home,  and  first  by  the  alcalde  and 
several  principal  men  of  the  place.    I  could  not  invite  them  into 
my  cabin,  as  I  had  none ;  but  I  could  give  them  camp-stools 
under  the  awning,  at  least.     I  was  invited  to  visit  the  town, 
and  in  the  afternoon  a  fine  horse,  with  rich  trappings  and  silver 
stirrups  and  ornaments,  was  sent  down  for  me,  and  another,  less 
gorgeously  bedecked,  for  the  engineer.     A  grand  ball  was  given 
us,  and  the  whole  community  was  invited.    It  was  a  spontaneous 
welcoming  to  their  waters  and  their  homes. 

The  same  neatness  of  dress  was  observable  as  at  Assumption, 
and  everything  betokened  a  happy  community :  if  not  opulent, 
they  had  all  the  comforts  of  life  in  abundance.  I  was  given  a 
very  comfortable  room  at  the  house  of  Don  Luis,  the  rich  man 
of  the  village ;  and  my  companion,  the  engineer,  was  well  taken 
care  of.  Soon  after  dark  the  ball  opened  j  we  were  invited  and 
accompanied  by  an  escort  to  a  house  having  rooms  of  consider- 
able size,  with  either  a  brick  or  an  earth  floor.  The  room  was 
well  filled  with  young  ladies,  some  of  them  very  pretty.    I  made 


A   GRAND  BALL.  261 

my  compliments  to  them  so  far  as  my  knowledge  of  their  lan- 
guage allowed.  The  dances  went  on,  and  everybody  was  bright 
and  cheery,  save  one  tall,  pretty  girl  who  sat  demurely  apart 
from  the  others.  I  approached  her,  and  in  the  affectionate  lan- 
guage that  pertains  to  people  in  that  region,  addressed  her  as 
"  my  pretty  little  girl/7  and  asked  her  why  she  did  not  dance. 
She  said  that  she  did  not  wish  to.  I  told  her  that  was  nonsense, 
— that  so  bright  and  pretty  a  girl  must  wish  to  dance.  She  said 
then,  "  To  tell  you  the  truth,  sir,  I  have  no  shoes,  and  all  my 
friends  are  provided  with  them  :  you  must  know,"  said  she, 
"  that  until  within  a  year  or  so  we  did  not  have  the  nicely-made 
shoes  that  are  now  brought  into  the  country,  but  wore  sandals 
of  our  own  make.  None  of  the  shoes  that  came  to  our  town 
fitted  me :  so  I  was  unable  to  provide  myself."  I  told  her  that 
she  must  not  allow  such  fashionable  nonsense  to  interfere  with 
her  comfort,  and  insisted  on  her  getting  up  and  dancing,  which 
she  did  quite  merrily  and  happily  the  whole  of  the  evening. 
She  had  been  sitting  on  a  rather  low  seat,  with  her  feet  carefully 
concealed  under  a  long  dress.  I  had  an  exemplification  how 
superfluous  shoes  are  in  dancing,  and  have  to  add  that  were  the 
feet  of  ball-room  belles  to  be  displayed  none  of  them  would 
compare  with  those  of  this  bright  young  lady  who  had  no  shoes 
at  that  time.  Soon  after,  no  doubt,  she  got  shoes,  and  pinched 
her  feet  to  her  heart's  content,  and  had  corns  and  bunions  just 
like  other  belles.  It  was  a  grand  ball ;  cerveza  Inglesa  was 
served,  an  equivalent  in  Paraguay  to  the  choicest  champagne 
with  us,  and,  besides,  yerba  mate  and  tiste,  or  equal  parts  of 
ground  Indian  corn  parched,  and  sugar,  with  cold  water.  The 
men  could  take  cana,  made  from  sugar-cane.  I  may  here  re- 
mark that  drunkenness  is  unknown  in  Paraguay,  except  among 
foreigners  who  go  there.  It  is  a  vice  that  does  not  belong  to 
the  Spanish  race,  and  if  the  Indian  indulges,  it  is  usually  in 
moderation.  I  took  leave  before  eleven,  for  I  had  been  very 
much  fatigued  with  my  labors.  Out  of  deference  to  me,  the 
others  also  took  tbeir  leave,  but  I  was  happy  to  learn  afterwards 
that  the  ball  was  again  put  in  motion  with  all  the  animation 
and  gayety  that  belong  to  youthful  enjoyment,  and  was  kept  up 
until  daylight. 


262  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

I  found  the  Jujuy  River  too  low  at  that  season  to  ascend, 
and,  after  a  vain  attempt,  returned  to  San  Pedro,  and  the  next 
day  went  out  into  the  Paraguay  River :  with  the  sweeping 
current  in  our  favor  we  were  soon  at  Assumption. 

I  have  neglected  thus  far  to  say  anything  of  his  Excellency 
the  President,  or  of  his  family,  save  in  describing  the  formal 
reception  given  the  captain  of  the  Water-Witch.  The  Presi- 
dent had  a  numerous  family;  his  wife,  like  himself,  was  in 
great  part  Indian ;  his  daughters  were  clumsily  built,  but  not 
objectionable  in  any  way.  He  had  one  son  in  Paris,  who,  to 
use  a  cant  vulgar  phrase,  "  was  being  educated  for  all  he  was 
worth."  Later  he  returned  and  took  his  father's  place,  and  in 
the  war  with  Brazil  showed  that  a  savage  educated  in  Paris 
loses  none  of  his  brutality.  It  was  said  that  his  treatment  of 
his  mother  and  sisters  was  infamous.  In  resisting  the  attack 
of  Brazil  he  had  slaughtered  all  the  men  and  women  of  Para- 
guay who  were  not  favorably  situated  to  run  away.  His  most 
useful  day  was  when  he  was  killed  in  battle ;  it  is  a  fact  that 
there  are  many  men  in  the  world  who  best  serve  their  fellow- 
men  when  they  die. 

The  houses  of  the  gentry  in  Assumption  were  of  adobe,  with 
brick  floors  and  tile  roofs ;  those  of  the  common  people  were 
huts  built  of  bamboos  and  thatched. 

During  the  several  months  that  the  Water-Witch  was  absent 
and  I  was  engaged  in  superintending  the  construction  of  the 
little  steamboat,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  daily 
life  of  the  Paraguayans.  Theft  was  very  rare  indeed,  and  in 
no  case  that  I  saw  did  the  use  of  liquors  amount  to  an  abuse. 
They  were  cleanly  in  their  persons,  and  well  behaved.  In  the 
heat  of  the  day  they  dined,  and  a  siesta  (or  noonday  nap)  of 
a  couple  of  hours  followed, — this  custom  being  as  strictly  ob- 
served as  though  it  had  been  a  religious  obligation.  From 
noon  until  two  o'clock  the  sight  of  a  human  being  in  the 
streets  was  rare.  Later  in  the  day  movement  began.  Per- 
haps once  or  twice  a  week  his  Excellency  the  President  would 
be  seen  mounted  upon  a  horse,  arrayed  in  all  the  splendor 
of  gold  lace  and  a  cocked  hat,  riding  slowly  along,  with  an 
orderly  twenty  yards  behind  him.     Should  a  native  meet  him, 


CUSTOMS  OF  THE   PEOPLE.  263 

a  side  street  for  exit,  if  possible,  would  be  resorted  to.  If  he 
came  suddenly  upon  him,  all  that  was  left  was  to  stand  firm, 
face  his  Excellency,  take  off  his  hat,  and  look  resolutely  at  the 
ground,  with  perhaps  a  stolen  glance  of  admiration  at  the  great 
man,  who  might  deign  to  acknowledge  his  presence  with  a  nod. 
At  sunset  all  the  church-bells  rang  out  the  Angelus;  every 
human  being  stopped,  bowed  his  head,  and  said  his  prayers, 
whether  in  mid-street  or  in  his  house.  The  Paraguayans  were 
educated  to  reverence  authority  to  man  and  to  their  Creator. 
When  a  funeral  passed,  the  man  would  have  been  considered  a 
brute  who  did  not  stand  with  hat  off,  facing  the  cortege,  and 
say  in  silence  a  prayer  for  the  dead,  and  this,  too,  however 
humble  the  family  from  whom  one  was  being  borne  to  the 
grave. 

As  the  shades  of  evening  fell  over  the  noble  river  that  swept 
by  the  city,  favorite  sites  for  bathing  were  resorted  to  by  the 
young  and  old  ladies  and  little  girls,  and  in  other  localities  men 
and  boys  disported  themselves.  In  the  evening,  after  paying  a 
call  to  one  house  a  visitor  could  pass  on  to  another,  and  con- 
sider that  all  held  an  informal  reception.  He  was  always  in- 
vited to  have  a  cup  of  yerba  mate,  prepared  by  one  of  the 
young  ladies  of  the  house.  The  cup  was  a  small  gourd,  into 
which  a  live  coal  was  usually  put,  then  a  silver  tube  put  in 
quickly,  and  hot  water  poured  over  it  immediately ;  then  the 
young  lady  would  take  a  sip,  to  see  that  the  silver  tube,  with 
an  enlargement  at  the  bottom  having  holes  punched  in  it,  was 
in  working  order,  and  it  was  then  handed  to  the  visitor.  I 
regret  to  say  that  the  ladies  of  Paraguay  of  middle  age  had 
usually  defective  front  teeth,  due  to  the  hot  silver  tube  and  the 
very  hot  yerba  mate.  After  the  mate  was  taken,  a  cigar  was 
offered ;  and  the  man  who  did  not  request  the  young  lady  to 
light  it  was  not  well  up  in  society  refinements. 

I  have  a  very  kind  remembrance  of  the  politeness  of  the 
Paraguayans,  and  especially  of  the  fair  sex.  They  were  not 
vulgar  in  any  sense,  although  the  super-refined  of  other  countries 
might  have  been  disposed  to  turn  up  their  noses  at  them. 

One  fine  Sunday  morning,  it  being  a  day  of  rest,  other  officers 
and  myself  made  a  visit  to  the  Gran  Chaco,  landing  as  near 


264  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

to  Assumption  as  we  could  find  solid  ground.  "With  a  boat's 
crew  we  pulled  up  the  river  perhaps  a  mile,  where  a  riacho  or 
side  channel  came  in.  We  followed  this  a  mile  or  more,  and 
came  to  a  hard  bank  that  evidently  had  been  frequented,  proba- 
bly by  the  Indians  that  lived  in  the  vicinity  for  watering  their 
ponies.  Here  we  landed,  four  in  number ;  taking  four  of  the 
boat's  crew  with  us,  we  directed  the  two  boat-keepers  to  pull 
lower  down  and  off  into  the  stream,  where  they  could  not  be 
surprised.  We  strolled  along  a  beaten  path,  and  soon  came 
upon  a  party  of  Indians,  who  deployed  right  and  left,  with 
their  bows  and  arrows,  in  order  that  a  shot  aimed  at  one  should 
not  kill  another.  We  saw  their  squaws  mount  in  hot  haste, 
and  their  little  children  also,  and  ride  off  briskly.  We  at  once 
made  signs  to  them  to  bring  back  their  women  and  children : 
they  at  once  did  so,  and  we  spent  several  hours  very  instruc- 
tively with  them,  and  became  very  good  friends.  In  sign- 
language  we  invited  them  to  come  down  abreast  of  Assumption 
and  pay  a  visit  to  the  Water-Witch  :  they  accepted  the  invita- 
tion so  far  as  coming  on  the  beach  was  concerned,  but  reserved 
the  visit  for  future  consideration. 

When  the  President  learned  of  our  visit  to  the  Gran  Chaco 
and  our  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  he  sent  us  a  message  that 
they  were  very  treacherous,  and  requested  that  we  should  have 
nothing  further  to  do  with  them. 

On  the  day  appointed,  a  hundred  or  more  Indians  appeared 
on  the  beach  and  made  signs  to  us.  We  took  them  over  gew- 
gaws, oranges,  and  tobacco,  and  spent  an  hour  or  so  with  them. 
I  think  they  had  made  up  their  minds  to  pay  us  a  visit,  but  we 
could  not  disregard  the  request  of  President  Lopez,  and  had  no 
further  intercourse  with  them.  Notwithstanding  their  fondness 
for  oranges  and  tobacco,  we  learned  that  they  never  planted 
orange-trees  near  their  dwellings,  or  elsewhere,  for  fear  of 
becoming  an  object  of  covetousness  to  neighboring  tribes.  So 
far  as  oranges  were  concerned,  it  would  have  been  the  easiest 
possible  matter  to  plant  them  all  over  the  country,  so  that  a 
common  want  would  have  been  supplied  by  this  prevision  and 
the  bounty  of  nature.  As  for  the  tobacc©,  it  might  have  been 
cultivated  at  some   distance   from   their  villages,  with  a  fair 


SECURING  SPECIMENS  OF  ANIMALS.  265 

chance  of  escaping  a  raid  in  consequence  of  their  luxury. 
What  a  commentary  this  is  on  the  advantage  of  aggregation 
and  an  intelligent  direction  of  public  affairs  !  To  plant  orange- 
seeds  even  in  an  enemy's  country  would  have  served  a  useful 
purpose,  inasmuch  as  they  would  then  have  been  permitted  to 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  own  labor  instead  of  inviting  the  raids 
of  covetous  tribes.  They  gave  us  exhibitions  of  the  use  of 
their  bows  and  arrows,  which  did  not  seem  to  me  all  I  had 
pictured  as  to  effectiveness.  Their  clubs  were  used  with  con- 
siderable dexterity,  but  I  could  hardly  imagine  that  they  could 
use  them  in  killing  wild  animals. 

The  Water- Witch  endeavored  to  secure  specimens  of  live  ani- 
mals that  would  have  served  to  stock  a  national  collection; 
but  this  was  useless,  travelling  menageries  carrying  much  larger 
and  more  interesting  collections  than  we  could  possibly  obtain. 
We  had  a  jaguar  that  had  been  brought  down  from  Corumba, 
and  a  tapir  that  had  also  been  presented,  some  carpinchos,  a 
peccary,  or  wild  hog,  numerous  young  ostriches,  and  a  wild  cat 
of  heavy  build  and  great  fierceness.  During  the  absence  of  the 
Water- Witch  I  had  charge  of  these  animals,  with  the  exception 
of  the  jaguar.  I  have  never  seen  any  other  animal  so  apparently 
indifferent  to  what  would  ordinarily  inflict  pain  as  the  tapir. 
He  has  a  very  thick  skin,  and  a  slow  movement  usually,  and 
there  is  no  means  of  appealing  to  his  fears  or  his  intelligence.  I 
would  open  the  gate  and  have  our  specimen  directed  to  the  river 
in  the  evening ;  when  he  would  reach  the  water  he  would  walk 
in  deliberately,  dive  perhaps  thirty  yards,  come  up  and  snort, 
then  paw  the  water  violently  with  his  forefeet,  and  go  down,  to 
come  up  fifty  yards  or  more  from  where  he  went  down.  He 
enjoyed  his  baths  greatly,  and  swam  very  rapidly.  After  half 
an  hour's  bathing  he  would  come  on  shore  and  walk  at  the  rate 
of  two  miles  an  hour  to  his  quarters.  It  was  impossible  to  hurry 
him ;  any  attempt  to  do  so  elicited  an  expression  of  impatience, 
but  never  of  anger.  The  little  gray  wild  hog  known  as  the 
peccary  became  so  much  attached  to  me  that  when  I  walked  out 
in  the  evening  and  did  not  take  it  along  it  would  shriek  in  the 
most  frightful  manner,  quite  like  a  spoiled  child.  When  per- 
mitted to  follow,  it  would  walk  with  the  greatest  regularity  a 


266  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

few  steps  behind  me.  It  was  attentive  as  to  this,  and  never 
loitered  on  its  way.  Towards  me  the  wild  cat  showed  a  very 
amiable  disposition.  I  would  take  it  in  my  arms,  much  to  the 
horror  of  my  Paraguayan  friends,  who  assured  me  that  it  would 
scratch  my  eyes  out :  yet  we  continued  the  best  of  friends  until 
it  was  sent  home  with  the  other  animals. 

After  the  return  of  the  Water-Witch  from  Corumba,  Lieu- 
tenant Welsh  and  myself  were  directed  to  make  an  excursion  to 
Villa  Rica,  a  distance  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
from  Assumption,  and  the  centre  of  a  beautiful  region.  We  all 
had  purchased  our  horses  as  personal  property,  so  our  expenses 
were  nominal, — less  than  a  dollar  a  day.  We  did  not  take  a 
native  or  guide  along,  which  would  have  been  better,  as  most  of 
the  people  spoke  little  Spanish.  They  were,  however,  very  hos- 
pitable, and  as  kind  as  though  we  had  been  of  their  own  kith 
and  kin.  There  are  no  tiendas  or  posadas  along  the  public  roads, 
and  when  nightfall  came  we  asked  hospitality  at  any  house.  We 
soon  found  the  advantage  of  stopping  while  there  was  light 
enough  to  get  the  "  chala"  or  green  corn-stalks,  upon  which  the 
horses  are  usually  fed  in  Paraguay.  There  is  a  very  little,  in- 
significant-looking brown  snake  that  infests  the  corn-fields,  more 
deadly  even  than  the  rattlesnake,  which  is  also  a  native  of  the 
soil.  This  latter  snake  is  not  very  numerous  in  the  tropics,  but 
probably  extends  from  the  northern  limits  of  our  country  to 
Patagonia.  Nothing  would  induce  the  natives  to  go  into  their 
corn-fields  after  dark ;  so  that  if  we  arrived  at  our  stopping- 
place  after  nightfall  the  horses  would  get  no  food  till  the 
morning. 

We  carried  our  guns,  and,  following  up  small  streams,  saw 
ducks  rise  and  settle  before  us,  and,  riding  up  to  near  where 
they  had  lighted,  would  dismount  and  shoot  them.  We  fared 
very  well,  with  what  our  friends  offered  us  and  what  we  brought 
along.  I  confess,  however,  to  a  certain  amount  of  repugnance 
against  feeding  out  of  a  common  large  dish,  however  abundant 
the  supply.  We  all  had  horn  spoons  and  good  appetites,  but, 
after  all,  one  has  to  be  hungry  or  "to  the  manner  born"  to  be 
content  with  satisfying  hunger  in  this  way.  One  evening  we 
arrived  after  sunset  at  a  house :  our  horses  got  no  corn-stalks 


A    TIGER-HUNTER.  267 

until  the  morning,  but  the  women,  good  souls  as  they  generally 
are,  got  up  and  made  us  a  pot  of  mush,  and  a  hungry  man  could 
have  asked  for  nothing  better. 

We  arrived  at  Villa  Rica  in  very  good  condition,  saw  all  the 
dignitaries,  had  a  couple  of  armadillos  stewed  for  us  at  a  posada 
or  public  house,  and,  after  a  night's  rest,  determined  to  go  some 
fifteen  miles  to  visit  a  famous  tiger-hunter  who  lived  there.  On 
our  arrival  we  told  him  we  had  come  from  Villa  Rica  especially 
to  pay  him  a  visit,  and  that  we  desired  to  join  him  in  a  hunt. 
He  spoke  of  the  great  danger  in  the  use  of  fire-arms  in  killing 
the  animal,  and  recounted  a  number  of  accidents  through  using 
them  instead  of  lances.  With  genuine  hospitality  he  killed  the 
fatted  calf,  and  arranged  for  a  hunt  over  a  beautiful  country, 
where  I  suspect  he  did  not  hope  to  find  tigers :  my  friend  and 
myself  had  our  double-barrel  guns,  and  these  he  probably  con- 
sidered a  personal  danger.  Nevertheless,  we  had  a  long  ride 
over  a  charming  country,  through  forests  and  lovely  prairies. 
On  one  occasion  he  called  upon  me  suddenly  to  halt,  and  dis- 
lodged from  a  tree  near  my  face  a  long  hairy  spider  of  consider- 
able weight,  a  bite  from  which,  though  not  fatal,  would  have 
been  by  no  means  agreeable.  On  our  return  we  were  entertained 
royally,  as  also  the  next  day,  on  the  calf.  The  third  day  our 
host  expressed  doubts  as  to  its  sound  condition ;  it  was  feo,  he 
said :  so  eggs  were  substituted,  with  beans,  which  the  Spanish 
people  of  America  cook  so  nicely  and  prize  so  highly. 

He  was  not  only  a  tiger-hunter,  but  also  a  curandero,  which 
may  be  translated  into  English  as  a  curer  rather  than  as  a  physi- 
cian ;  he  brought  out  his  book  of  remedios,  which  he  had  pored 
over  for  half  a  century,  and  asked  my  opinion  as  to  their  effi- 
cacy. In  looking  over  the  book,  all  worn  by  thumbing,  I  noticed 
several  such  repellent  remedies  as  were  in  vogue  in  Great  Brit- 
ain not  more  than  two  centuries  ago.  There  was  one  remedy, 
hinging  on  the  efficacy  of  a  black  dog  in  certain  cases  of  liver- 
ailment,  which  I  will  detail  subsequently,  in  describing  the  treat- 
ment of  a  poor  fellow  in  Nicaragua  by  our  wardroom  cook. 

Although,  in  consequence  of  rheumatism,  our  host  walked 
with  difficulty,  he  could  mount  his  horse  and  ride  a  dozen  miles 
with  us.     He  lived  quite  alone,  with  the  exception  of  his  ser- 


268         THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

vants,  who  occupied  buildings  near  by.  He  was  delighted  to 
show  us  his  broad  acres,  that  would  have  excited  the  envy  of 
any  ordinary  land-grabber,  and  the  fat  cattle  that  needed  no 
other  care  than  protection  from  tigers,  as  jaguars  were  called, 
and  panthers.  He  told  me  that  when  an  animal  was  killed  he 
knew  whether  it  was  by  the  jaguar  or  the  panther,  as  the  first- 
named  always  ate  from  the  breast  and  the  latter  from  the  flank. 
When  we  announced  that  we  must  take  our  departure  early  the 
next  day,  he  looked  at  me  very  earnestly,  and  said,  "  What  can 
I  present  you?"  He  had  one  or  two  large  cedar  chests,  and, 
looking  around,  he  added,  "  I  wish  you  to  have  that  chest,  if 
you  prefer  nothing  else.  I  will  send  it  to  Villa  Rica  in  a  carrete, 
and  you  can  readily  have  it  hauled  to  Assumption."  I  accepted 
the  gift,  but  asked  him  to  do  me  the  favor  of  keeping  possession 
of  it  until  I  should  ascend  a  small  river  near  by  in  the  small 
steamer,  when  he  could  pay  me  a  visit  and  bring  the  chest  along. 

An  American  commercial  company  had,  by  permission,  pre- 
ceded us  to  Paraguay  by  some  months.  Machinery,  particularly 
for  sawing  timber,  and  a  considerable  number  of  Cuban  cigar- 
makers,  went  out  in  a  frail  steamer  which  never  reached  her 
port.  She  was  lost  before  getting  around  Cape  St.  Roque  in 
Brazil.  The  passengers  and  the  principal  part  of  the  machinery 
were  shipped  thence  to  Assumption.  The  location  selected  for 
the  saw-mill  was  several  miles  below  that  city,  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  river,  where  there  was  a  considerable  amount  of  fall  in 
the  hills,  and  in  the  rainy  season,  to  an  inexperienced  person, 
the  promise  of  water-power.  Difficulties  occurred  between  the 
company  and  the  Paraguayan  government,  and  the  saw-mill 
was  never  put  up. 

A  decree  expelled  the  company  some  time  after  I  left  Para- 
guay ;  damages  to  a  great  amount  were  claimed,  and  in  a  year 
or  two  a  considerable  expedition,  under  the  command  of  Com- 
modore William  B.  Shubrick,  was  sent  to  demand  indemnity. 
President  Lopez  was  too  shrewd  a  man  to  allow  the  question  to 
be  decided  by  force ;  and  agreed  to  a  trial  in  our  own  courts : 
the  expedition  returned  without  having  gone  up  the  river,  and 
the  courts  decided,  very  justly,  that  the  Paraguayan  government 
had  no  indemnity  to  pay. 


SERVICE   ON  BOARD    THE  BRIO  BAINBRIDGE.       269 

On  the  return  of  the  Water- Witch  from  Corumba,  after  the 
captain  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  despot,  the  vessel 
remained  a  month  at  Assumption,  then  visited  Buenos  Ayres 
and  Montevideo,  returning  to  Assumption  in  the  early  part  of 
May,  1854.  On  her  return  I  requested  to  be  ordered  to  report 
for  duty  in  the  Brazil  squadron.  My  request  was  readily 
granted,  as  several  other  officers  had  been  brought  up  or  were 
afterwards  detailed.  The  captain  of  the  Water- Witch  was  en- 
tirely a  gentleman,  but,  so  far  as  my  opinion  is  of  value,  was 
not  well  fitted  to  command  such  an  expedition. 

I  left  Assumption  about  the  middle  of  May,  on  board  of  a 
trading-schooner,  and  was  a  month  in  reaching  Buenos  Ayres. 
The  voyage  in  this  little  vessel  was  not  without  interest ;  we 
anchored  here  and  there,  and  were  several  days  at  Corrientes 
and  at  Rosario.  We  had  an  Italian  cook  who  might  have  been 
a  chef  of  many  a  hotel  where  I  have  been  a  "  guest,"  as  people 
are  sometimes  called  who  are  "  taken  in."  On  reaching  Monte- 
video I  reported  to  Commodore  Salter,  who  did  not  order  me 
for  some  weeks,  and  then  detailed  me  to  the  brig  Bainbridge. 
Ten  years  before,  the  commander  of  this  vessel,  an  excellent 
officer  and  a  man  correct  in  all  respects,  had  deliberately  loaded 
himself  down  with  weights  in  his  pockets  and  stepped  over- 
board in  these  waters. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


Service  on  Board  the  Brig  Bainbridge — A  Shooting-Expedition — The  Cap- 
tain of  the  Bainbridge — A  Second  Shooting-Expedition — The  Captain  in 
his  Cups — Proposes  the  Capture  of  the  Governor  of  the  Falkland  Islands 
— The  Water- Witch  fired  on  from  a  Paraguayan  Fort — Sail  from  Monte- 
video— Paranagua — Arrival  at  Kio — Visit  to  Count  Medem  at  Petropolis 
— The  Captain's  Idiosyncrasies — A  Spiritualist — Barbadoes — Arrival  in 
the  United  States — Some  Retrospections. 

The  brig  fulfilled  Jonson's  idea  of  a  prison,  with  a  chance 
of  being  drowned.  The  lack  of  room  for  health,  or  even  for 
movement  without  incommoding  others,  is  a  great  restraint  to 
all  in  an  apartment :  that  those  on  board  of  the  Bainbridge 


270  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

were  subjected  to  this  restraint  will  be  apparent  to  the  reader 
who  will  lay  off  on  his  floor  the  dimensions  of  the  wardroom 
and  bear  in  mind  the  actual  height  between-decks,  which  was 
five  feet.  In  this  apartment  five  persons  slept,  dressed,  break- 
fasted, dined,  and  supped.  There,  too,  they  sat,  wrote  their 
letters,  and  read,  usually  of  course  going  on  deck  when  the 
weather  would  permit. 

Towards  the  last  of  June  I  went  on  duty  on  board  of  this 
vessel,  and  was  permitted  to  live  on  shore  until  early  in  July. 
Then  I  asked  permission  to  be  absent  for  a  few  days,  and, 
taking  my  gun,  walked  out  to  the  village  of  Pando,  some 
seventeen  miles  in  the  interior,  more  with  the  design  of  escaping 
the  "  celebration"  of  the  Fourth  than  from  any  other  motive. 
There  were  at  the  "  Steamboat  Hotel"  a  number  of  merchant- 
captains,  who  were  usually  quite  patriotic  on  such  occasions, 
among  them  Captain  Smiley,  who  certainly  could  not  be  accused 
of  inebriety  on  any  occasion  that  I  had  seen.  Up  to  that  time, 
since  he  had  commanded  the  vessel,  the  captain  of  the  Bain- 
bridge  had  been  entirely  abstemious.  Had  I  remained  and 
been  present  at  the  celebration,  I  might  have  it  on  my  conscience 
that  I  had  abetted  in  leading  him  into  error.  In  escaping  from 
one  danger  I  had  subjected  myself  to  another.  I  had  walked 
to  Pando,  gone  to  a  pulperia,  or  common  country  public  house, 
but  of  course  the  best  in  the  village,  and  in  the  morning  had 
gone  out  to  shoot,  supposing  that  game  was  to  be  found  every- 
where, as  on  the  Gualeguay  River.  I  found  the  land  generally 
hedged  by  cactus,  and  sometimes  went  within  the  enclosures. 
I  found  no  birds,  but,  as  I  was  passing  around,  a  large  band  of 
dogs  found  me.  I  saw  them  in  the  distance,  several  hundred 
yards  away,  bearing  down  on  me  with  a  fixed  purpose  to  destroy 
me.  The  leader  came  as  straight  as  an  arrow,  with  mouth  open, 
and  when  near  me  the  band  separated  right  and  left  to  attack 
on  the  flanks.  When  the  leader  was  within  ten  feet  I  blew  out 
his  brains  by  a  charge  of  shot  properly  delivered,  and  the  grand 
brute  never  kicked,  but  lay  sprawled  out  on  all-fours.  The  six 
or  eight  dogs  under  his  lead  went  home  in  haste,  and  I  was  left 
to  pursue  my  way  to  the  pulperia,  where  the  owner  came  to 
complain  of  my  shooting  his  dog.     I  told  him  that  I  regretted 


A   SECOND  SHOOTING-EXPEDITION.  271 

the  necessity  very  much,  but  it  was  simply  a  question  of  shoot- 
ing the  dog  or  allowing  myself  to  be  torn  to  pieces.  I  am  not 
quite  sure  whether  I  gave  the  man  something  in  recompense  or 
not  j  certainly  he  had  a  noble  though  rather  aggressive  guardian, 
but  as  I  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  his  house,  and  was  quite 
willing  to  retreat,  and  did  so,  I  felt  no  self-reproach.  I  learned 
afterwards  that  the  dog  most  common  in  that  region,  and  the 
one  I  had  shot,  was  a  Russian  blood-hound. 

A  few  days  after  my  return  the  captain  asked  me  if  I  would 
not  like  to  go  on  a  shooting-expedition  of  a  week  up  the  Santa 
Lucia,  a  little  stream  that  emptied  into  the  estuary  some  twenty 
miles  from  Montevideo,  on  the  left  bank.  I  was  glad  to  accept, 
and  was  requested  to  make  preliminary  arrangements  as  to  sup- 
plies, etc.  When  the  time  was  fixed,  everything  was  ready ; 
the  captain  was  then  living  on  shore.  It  was  agreed  that  I 
should  take  charge  of  two  boats  containing  sails  for  tents  and 
provisions  for  ten  days.  The  crews  numbered  sixteen  men, 
besides  the  captain's  clerk  and  myself.  The  captain  was  to  join 
us  the  next  day  at  the  lowest  ford  on  the  stream,  to  be  accom- 
panied by  two  gentlemen  who  had  a  rancho  near  by.  Before  I 
had  completed  my  arrangements  it  was  later  in  the  day  than  I 
had  hoped,  and  the  overladen  boats  and  short  days  brought 
nightfall  before  we  had  reached  the  mouth  of  the  stream ;  being 
very  desirous  of  reaching  it,  I  kept  on  pulling  until  after  dark, 
but  even  then  I  was  still  short  of  it.  There  was  a  good  deal 
of  swell,  but  little  wind.  I  told  the  captain's  clerk  that  I 
would  pull  in  and  land ;  should  it  be  rocky  I  would  warn  him, 
and  he  could  anchor  for  the  night,  while  if  I  found  a  proper 
landing  he  should  follow,  and  we  would  haul  up  the  boats, 
pitch  the  tents,  make  ourselves  comfortable  for  the  night,  and 
in  the  morning  go  on  into  the  Santa  Lucia  River.  I  fortunately 
struck  a  sand-beach,  and  the  other  boat  followed.  We  soon 
put  up  our  tents,  and,  well  sheltered,  had  a  sound  sleep.  I  had 
the  "  breaker"  containing  the  ration  of  whiskey  for  a  pillow, 
which  insured  it  for  the  night.  The  captain's  clerk  was  a 
bright  young  gentleman,  who  had  the  idea  that  he  had  any 
amount  of  endurance,  and  had  his  little  laugh  in  advance  about 
how  he  would  tire  me  out. 


272  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

After  sunrise  I  got  up  and  walked  to  a  little  brook  near  by, 
where  I  washed  my  face  and  hands;  there  was  frost  on  the 
leaves,  and  the  morning  was  chilly  for  that  region.  On  getting 
back  to  our  tent,  I  found  the  old  quartermaster,  Farr,  in  my 
tent ;  he  had  come  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  keg  of  whis- 
key. After  using  some  epithets  not  in  the  nature  of  a  blessing, 
I  gave  the  other  men  their  morning  allowance.  Breakfast  over, 
we  took  down  our  tents,  and  an  hour  or  so  after  we  launched 
our  boats,  entered  the  Santa  Lucia  River,  and  rowed  up  to  the 
ford.  Here  we  waited  until  long  after  noonday,  when  the  captain 
and  his  two  friends  arrived  in  a  country  wagon.  They  drove 
out  to  the  boat,  took  off  their  ammunition  and  supplies,  among 
which  latter  was  a  case  of  brandy,  and  sent  their  wagon  home. 
The  captain  asked  me  what  I  had  brought  in  the  way  of  pro- 
visions. I  said  we  had  full  rations  of  bread,  pork,  and  liquor 
for  all  of  us  for  ten  days,  and,  besides,  I  had  a  dozen  bottles  of 
wines  and  liquors  for  him  and  his  friends.  He  congratulated 
us  on  his  having  brought  a  case  of  brandy  along,  immediately 
had  the  tops  of  two  or  three  bottles  knocked  off,  and  gave  a 
generous  glass  to  every  one  of  the  sailors,  not  failing  in  liberal- 
ity to  our  guests  and  ourselves.  Then  we  pulled  up  the  stream 
until  near  sunset. 

We  landed  before  dark,  kindled  a  fire  with  wood  I  had 
brought  in  the  boats,  put  up  the  tents,  and  had  our  supper. 
Soon  after,  the  captain  went  over  to  the  men's  tent,  and  insisted 
on  Farr  and  others  singing :  he  thought  that  the  limiting  of 
drinks  on  such  an  excursion,  either  as  to  time  or  quantity,  was  a 
needless  restriction,  and  the  grog-tub  was  called  for  to  do  extra 
duty.  Next  morning  we  got  up  pretty  early,  considering  the 
late  carousal,  and  after  breakfast  the  captain,  his  guests,  and  his 
clerk  went  on  the  high  land  not  far  distant,  to  hunt  partridge, 
quail,  and  deer.  The  game  was  found  so  abundant  that  we 
remained  another  day.  A  large  number  of  birds  were  shot,  and, 
having  a  good  cook,  Ave  had  an  excellent  dinner.  The  second 
morning  we  broke  camp  after  breakfast,  and  that  night  had 
another  orgy  near  the  tent  of  the  men.  This  greatly  lowered 
the  liquor-supply, — in  fact,  so  reduced  it  that  absolute  want  was 
apprehended  as  likely  to  occur  soon. 


A   SECOND   SHOOTING-EXPEDITION.  273 

The  following  morning  after  breakfast  a  tall  native  of  the 
soil  rode  into  our  encampment;  the  captain  hailed  him  as  a  de- 
liverer from  impending  distress,  and,  after  gaining  information, 
sent  him  off  to  a  tienda  some  miles  distant,  with  orders  to  bring 
at  least  two  dozen  bottles  of  the  rum  of  the  country,  that  being 
all  he  could  possibly  promise  to  deliver, — a  very  small  supply  for 
thirsty  people  engaged  in  hard  labor,  or  at  least  exertion  in  shoot- 
ing. In  the  afternoon  our  messenger  returned  with  the  promised 
supply,  inadequate,  however,  to  allow  another  midnight  carousal, 
so  we  retired  early,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  broke 
camp  again.  In  the  south  were  angry  clouds,  and  a  fierce  wind 
swept  us  on  our  course  under  sail  ten  miles  an  hour.  Suddenly 
we  came  to  a  bifurcation  of  the  stream,  and  the  captain  cried 
out  to  me,  "  Which  channel  shall  we  take  ?"  I  said,  "  To  the 
right,"  and  in  a  mile  we  were  at  the  head  of  a  cul-de-sac. 

I  lost  no  time  in  pitching  our  tents,  and  in  cutting  a  drain  on 
the  upper  side  so  as  to  protect  us  from  a  flood.  We  had  no 
sooner  made  our  preparations  than  the  rain  was  upon  us,  accom- 
panied by  lightning  such  as  one  rarely  sees.  The  rain  poured 
down  through  the  light  sail  that  formed  our  covering,  and  the 
wind  threatened  to  blow  our  tents  down.  My  young  friend  the 
captain's  clerk  was  suffering  from  a  chill,  and  I  employed  my 
rubber  blanket  to  protect  him.  I  stood  up  as  the  best  means  of 
protecting  myself  from  saturation.  The  captain  danced  about 
dimly  seen  by  the  uncertain  flicker  of  a  small  lamp  that  was 
attached  to  the  ridge-pole,  and  our  guests  smoked  their  pipes 
with  great  equanimity.  The  captain  said  he  had  never  witnessed 
anything  so  grand  in  his  life,  and  was  "as  happy  as  a  lord." 
In  an  hour  or  so  the  heavy  rain  ceased  ;  our  cook,  who  had  been 
an  old  Spanish  soldier,  went  out  and  gathered  a  few  thistle-heads, 
kindled  a  fire,  and  broiled  us  as  nice  a  lot  of  quail  and  made  as 
good  a  cup  of  coffee  as  could  be  found  anywhere.  We  all  lay 
down  and  slept  comfortably  that  night,  but  with  the  sad  reflec- 
tion that  the  liquor-supply  was  very  low.  The  next  morning  we 
broke  ground,  went  up  the  other  branch,  and  encamped  on  the 
estancia  of  Don  Albano  de  Bueno,  who  kindly  sent  his  capitan, 
or  head-man,  to  offer  us  his  assistance.  He  sent  us  a  quarter  of 
excellent  beef,  made  provisions  for  us  to  get  ten  gallons  of  rum, 

18 


274  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

and  did  everything  that  a  hospitable  gentleman  could  possibly  do. 
Our  larder  was  well  supplied  with  hard  bread  and  salt  pork,  and 
birds  in  abundance  ;  the  only  difficult  supply  to  keep  up  was  the 
liquor.  Our  young  "  tender-foot"  we  sent  by  conveyance  to 
Montevideo,  where  he  gave  doleful  accounts  of  our  expedition. 

Near  this  encampment  we  found  great  numbers  of  the  car- 
pincho,  an  animal  that  I  have  already  described.  When  shot  it 
would  take  to  the  water  and  dive ;  but  after  an  hour  or  so,  from 
the  stomach  becoming  distended,  it  would  rise  to  the  surface. 
The  size  of  the  animals  caused  the  captain  to  regard  them  as 
something  of  a  prize,  but,  as  they  proved  to  be  unfit  to  eat,  and 
as  killing  them  served  no  purpose,  we  left  them  alone  thereafter. 
There  were  numbers  of  deer,  some  of  which  we  shot.  I  found 
it  very  difficult  to  estimate  distances ;  sometimes  it  would  seem 
to  me  that  animals  were  a  long  distance  off  when  they  were 
actually  within  range,  and  at  other  times  the  reverse  would  be 
the  case.  There  were  no  trees,  but  a  good  many  bushes  large 
enough  to  conceal  the  approach  of  a  person  crawling  along  the 
ground.  In  doing  so,  I  was  greatly  surprised  at  seeing  the  head 
of  a  large  snake  appear  a  foot  from  the  ground  and  within  a  few 
feet  of  me.  I  immediately  stood  on  my  feet  and  shot  it  instead 
of  the  deer.     It  was  more  than  six  feet  in  length. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  one  of  our  men  came  to  me  in  haste 
and  said  that  a  jaguar  had  just  swam  across  the  stream  to  our 
sidej  a  short  distance  above  our  encampment.  Not  being  in- 
formed at  that  time  as  to  the  habit  of  the  animal,  I  told  him  I 
thought  it  must  have  been  a  carpincho.  The  man  was  quite 
positive  it  was  a  jaguar,  and  I  afterwards  regretted  that  I  did 
not  take  my  gun  and  go  after  it.  My  companions  were  off  in 
another  direction,  and  were  late  in  coming  into  camp.  Early 
the  next  morning  the  captain  and  his  companions  took  horses 
and  rode  to  Montevideo.  After  we  had  our  breakfast,  I  deter- 
mined to  move  down  the  river,  so  as  to  reach  the  vessel  the 
following  day,  and  had  just  struck  the  tents  and  loaded  the 
boats,  when  the  capitan  rode  down  to  our  party  and  told  me 
that  a  jaguar  had  killed  one  of  his  horses  and  dragged  it  several 
hundred  yards  to  a  thicket  j  by  noon,  he  said,  the  beast  would 
be  hungry  again,  and  would  then  come  to  eat  more  of  the  car- 


THE  CAPTAIN  IN  HIS  CUPS.  275 

cass.  Not  wishing  to  be  detained,  I  lent  him  a  gun  j  and,  as  he 
afterwards  told  me,  he  climbed  the  tree  overhead  at  the  spot 
where  the  horse  had  been  dragged,  and  some  time  before  noon 
shot  the  animal  from  his  perch. 

I  took  the  boats  down  the  stream  until  we  found  a  good 
camping-ground,  with  plenty  of  brushwood  near  by,  then  went 
into  camp  and  made  good  large  fires  to  dry  our  clothing.  The 
next  day  we  went  out  of  the  Santa  Lucia  and  had  a  fine  sail  of 
twenty  miles  to  the  vessel.  We  had  been  absent  ten  days,  and 
I  got  more  than  I  had  bargained  for.  I  had  not  the  least  idea 
that  the  hunt  would  also  be  a  drunken  frolic. 

The  Bainbridge  was  anchored  close  to  the  landing  at  Monte- 
video, and  was  often  aground  in  the  soft  mud  for  hours  when 
the  wind  blew  the  water  out  of  the  river,  as  it  frequently 
did.  The  Congress  lay  several  miles  out,  where  the  water  was 
deep :  owing  to  the  distance  and  the  rough  seas,  her  officers 
rarely  came  on  shore,  while  the  habit  of  the  officers  of  the  brig 
was  never  to  stay  on  board  if  they  could  get  on  shore.  Pre- 
vious to  the  Fourth  of  July  the  captain  rarely  went  on  shore ; 
but  after  that  date  he  took  up  his  quarters  at  the  Steamboat 
Hotel,  near  the  landing.  It  was  the  usual  resort  of  captains 
and  mates  of  American  merchantmen  and  their  families.  When 
in  port,  Captain  Smiley  lived  there.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  had  traded  between  Montevideo  and  Rio  Janeiro  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year,  and  visited  the  Falkland  Islands  and  the 
coast  of  Patagonia.  Twenty  years  earlier  he  had  commanded  a 
sealing-schooner  and  visited  the  Antarctic  circle,  and  he  was  to 
have  been  one  of  the  pilots  of  our  Exploring  Expedition  of 
1838  that  had  been  so  long  delayed  and  that  finally  sailed  under 
Wilkes.  Smiley  had  no  appearance  of  years ;  he  was  small, 
well  knit,  with  sandy  hair  and  eyebrows  and  a  keen  gray  eye 
and  pleasant  manner.  He  was  a  thorough  seaman,  and  was 
humorous  and  jovial,  but  not  given  to  intemperance.  Our 
captain  took  a  great  fancy  to  him,  and  amused  himself  by  read- 
ing Smiley's  log-books,  which  were  writen  in  doggerel  and 
styled  "  poetry."  Smiley  went  to  the  Falkland  Islands  while 
we  were  at  anchor  for  some  purpose  not  approved  of  by  the  gov- 
ernor, and  returned  in  high  dudgeon.     His  account  of  his  treat- 


276  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

ment  quite  incensed  our  captain,  and  the  flag-ship  having  sailed 
left  him  free  rein  :  he  came  on  board  one  morning  and  announced 
his  determination  to  go  directly  to  the  Falklands  and  capture 
the  governor  and  take  him  to  the  United  States.  All  that  he 
wanted  was  a  written  statement  that  Captain  Smiley  would 
make  to  him  of  the  treatment  he  had  received.  He  ordered 
that  the  vessel  should  be  provisioned  in  haste,  and  all  indebted- 
ness settled,  as  he  did  not  intend  to  return  to  Montevideo,  but 
would  go  directly  to  the  United  States  with  the  governor  as 
soon  as  he  had  captured  him.  I  thought  this  so  serious  a  matter 
that  I  went  on  shore  and  had  a  confidential  interview  with 
Smiley.  I  told  him  that  we  were  provisioning  to  sail  for  the 
Falklands  to  capture  the  governor  and  take  him  to  the  United 
States  for  trial,  and  that  the  captain  looked  for  his  warrant  to  a 
letter  from  him  stating  the  indignities  to  which  he  had  been 
subjected  by  the  governor.  I  hoped,  therefore,  that  in  framing 
his  letter  he  would  be  exceedingly  careful ;  our  captain  had  a 
great  many  good  qualities,  and  it  would  be  a  regret  to  all  of  us 
who  admired  them  to  see  him  destroy  himself  by  an  unwarranted 
action  of  the  gravest  import.  Smiley  promised  me  that  he 
would  take  care  not  to  betray  our  captain  into  error ;  and  I  had 
entire  faith  in  him,  for  he  was  a  man  of  sense,  and  when  you 
treat  with  one  you  can  count  on  his  action. 

The  vessel  was  got  ready  for  sea,  and  still  we  did  not  sail ;  I 
said  to  the  captain  one  morning  when  he  came  on  board  that  I 
always  had  a  desire  to  visit  the  Falklands  since  I  was  a  small 
boy,  after  reading  an  account  of  two  sailors  who  had  been  cast 
away  there  half  a  century  before,  and  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  supported  themselves  until  rescued.  It  was  by  trapping 
pigs,  and  by  killing  wild  fowls  of  many  varieties  that  came  in 
vast  numbers  to  nest,  and  were  so  tame  as  to  allow  themselves 
to  be  knocked  over  with  a  club.  They  found  an  excellent  anti- 
scorbutic and  vegetable  food  in  the  root  of  the  tussac,  which 
they  thought  quite  as  good  as  celery.  It  grew  in  great  clumps 
in  marshy  land,  and  in  passing  over  it  was  necessary  to  jump 
from  one  clump  to  another ;  the  hogs  ate  the  tops  and  grew  fat. 
Although  at  the  Falklands  it  actually  sleeted  or  snowed  every 
month  of  the  year,  still  there  was  no  very  cold  weather. 


WATER- WITCH  FIRED  ON  FROM  A  PARAGUAYAN  FORT.  277 

The  captain  listened  to  my  long  dissertation  with  an  air  of 
impatience,  and  said  that  he  could  not  go  to  the  Falklands  at 
all ;  he  had  relied  on  the  verbal  statement  of  Smiley,  and  had 
asked  him  to  put  it  in  writing,  which  he  had  just  done,  and  he 
saw  nothing  in  it  which  would  justify  him  in  seizing  the  gov- 
ernor and  taking  him  to  the  United  States  for  trial.  Smiley 
had  behaved  shamefully  :  had  he  given  him  a  written  statement 
such  as  he  had  made  verbally,  he  would  be  entirely  justifiable, 
but  the  statement  he  had  made  did  not  amount  to  anything, 
and  he  could  not  visit  the  Falklands  for  his  intended  purpose. 

I  was  aware  that  Smiley  had  been  something  of  a  "  freebooter," 
and  doubtless  had  disregarded  regulations  or  laws,  which  he  did 
not  state  to  our  captain.  As  nothing  came  out  in  the  way  of 
complaint  by  Smiley  to  our  government,  we  may  suppose  that 
he  had  not  been  very  badly  treated,  after  all.  I  have  not  heard 
of  Smiley  since ;  had  he  been  placed  in  a  similar  position  he 
would  have  made  a  second  John  Paul  Jones. 

A  short  time  before  the  flag-ship  sailed  we  received  informa- 
tion of  the  firing  on  the  Water-Witch  from  a  Paraguayan  fort 
up  the  Parana,  which  river  the  commander  of  the  Water-Witch 
had  attempted  to  ascend  without  having  secured  the  permission 
of  the  President,  the  refusal  being  due  to  a  lack  of  discretion  in 
ascending  the  Paraguay  into  Brazilian  territory  when  he  had  been 
permitted  to  ascend  that  river  only  under  the  implied  coudition 
that  he  would  not  go  beyond  Paraguayan  territory.  A  man  at 
the  helm  of  the  Water-Witch  had  been  killed,  and  the  vessel 
driven  back.  Our  captain  at  once  applied  to  be  sent  up  "  to  set 
things  right."  But  the  vessel  had  too  much  draught,  and  would 
have  been  entirely  helpless  in  the  strong  current  of  the  river,  and 
even  had  she  been  a  steamer  her  battery  would  have  been  inade- 
quate to  do  any  damage ;  so  Commodore  Salter  very  properly 
declined  the  application.  He  had  no  vessel  under  his  command 
that  could  be  sent  up  the  river,  and  the  facts  of  the  case,  together 
with  another  matter,  caused,  after  some  delay,  an  expedition  to 
be  fitted  out  under  the  command  of  Commodore  William  B. 
Shubrick,  of  which  I  have  already  made  mention.  The  belief 
of  our  captain  that  "  he  had  been  restrained  from  vindicating 
the  honor  of  our  flag"  in  Paraguay,  and  the  check  he  had  re- 


278         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

ceived  in  not  being  able  to  seize  the  governor  of  the  Falklands, 
preyed  so  much  upon  his  mind  that  he  determined  to  execute 
only  in  part  the  orders  he  had  received  from  the  commodore,  and 
to  sail  directly  from  Rio  Janeiro  for  the  United  States,  as  he  did 
finally,  touching  at  the  island  of  Barbadoes  for  water. 

We  sailed  from  Montevideo  on  the  11th  of  October,  and  made 
a  passage  of  one  week  to  St.  Catherine's.  Owing  to  his  intem- 
perate habits  the  captain's  condition  became  such  that  I  felt  it 
my  duty  to  say  to  the  first  lieutenant  then,  I  being  the  second, 
that  whenever  he  might  regard  it  as  necessary  to  the  safety  of 
the  vessel  to  assume  command  I  should  be  entirely  ready  to 
support  his  authority.  If  he  assumed  command  we  would  be 
obliged  to  put  the  captain  in  double  irons,  as  otherwise  we  would 
be  shot.  I  hoped,  however,  that  he  would  defer  such  action 
until  he  thought  the  necessity  imminent. 

During  the  passage  the  captain  came  to  me  one  afternoon  when 
I  had  charge  of  the  deck,  and  said,  "  Do  you  know  that  Mrs. 
Sewell  is  on  board  ?"  I  said,  "  Certainly  not ;  I  don't  see  how 
she  can  be  on  board."  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  it's  quite  a  strange 
affair,  but  she  is  in  the  cabin."  "Well,"  I  said,  "captain,  I 
think  the  doctor  has  been  giving  you  morphine,  and  I  suspect 
that  is  the  reason  of  your  belief."  He  bridled  up  greatly,  and 
said,  "  Then  I  suppose  you  think  that  I  have  not  seen  her." 
"  Well,  really,  captain,"  I  replied,  "  people  who  take  morphine 
see  a  great  deal  that  is  unseen  by  other  persons."  "  Well,"  he 
said,  "  when  your  watch  is  out,  come  down  in  the  cabin  and  see 
for  yourself." 

On  being  relieved  I  went  into  the  cabin,  and  he  went  through 
the  formula  of  presenting  me  to  the  lady.  Then  he  looked  at 
me  with  some  surprise,  and  asked  why  I  did  not  make  some 
remark.  I  then  expressed  my  surprise  and  gratification  at  see- 
ing her,  and  asked  by  what  means  she  had  come  on  board.  I 
ceased,  and  the  captain  looked  at  me  with  an  expression  of  dis- 
appointment and  impatience,  and  asked  why  I  didn't  reply  to 
the  lady.  I  said,  "  I  have  not  heard  anything  that  she  has  said, 
nor  have  I  seen  her."  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  is  that  possible  ?  she 
said  so  and  so ;"  whereupon  I  answered  in  such  terms  as  the 
asserted  expression  of  the  lady  warranted.     He  evidently  felt 


ENTER  ST.  CATHERINE'S.  279 

chagrined  and  disappointed,  and  after  I  left  the  cabin  sent  for 
his  clerk,  who  had  assented  to  having  heard  her  conversation 
and  to  having  seen  the  lady  as  asserted  by  the  captain,  before  I 
had  been  invited.  The  clerk  no  longer  saw  or  heard  her,  much 
to  the  disgust  of  the  captain,  who  plainly  informed  him  that, 
young  as  he  was,  he  had  all  the  infirmities  of  an  old  man,  just 
like  Ammen,  who  could  see  or  hear  nothing. 

Notwithstanding  this  deplorable  condition,  he  by  the  use  of  a 
little  chloroform  and  other  remedies  actually  became  rational 
about  the  time  we  entered  St.  Catherine's,  and  we  had  the  hope 
that  he  would  become  a  responsible  officer,  as  he  had  been  pre- 
vious to  the  Fourth-of-July  celebration. 

Our  anchorage  was  near  the  entrance  of  the  beautiful,  capacious 
harbor,  several  miles  from  the  town,  where  the  water  is  shoal. 
Although  the  harbor  is  grand,  it  does  not  compare  with  that  of 
Rio.  The  town  has  a  few  thousand  inhabitants,  the  greater 
number  of  whom — or  at  least  of  the  women — are  engaged  in 
making  feather  and  shell-flower  work,  which  navy  men  were  in 
the  habit  of  presenting  to  their  friends,  although  it  had  little 
merit  from  an  artistic  point  of  view.  We  found  the  inhabitants 
altogether  the  most  agreeable  Brazilians  we  had  met.  As  a  race, 
the  descendants  of  the  Portuguese  in  America  will  not  compare 
favorably  in  appearance  or  agreeability  with  the  descendants  of 
the  Spaniards.  Indeed,  I  do  not  know  a  more  agreeable  people 
to  hold  personal  intercourse  with  than  those  speaking  the  Spanish 
language  on  this  continent.  The  men,  when  educated,  are  well 
bred  and  agreeable ;  and  the  man  who  has  never  been  off  his 
estancia  is  at  least  hospitable  and  considerate  to  every  one  who 
enters  his  door-wTay.  Whatever  is  there,  even  though  it  be 
but  an  ear  of  corn,  roasted  on  the  cob,  is  offered  with  as  much 
hospitality  as  though  it  were  a  delicacy.  I  have  found  many 
of  these  people  who  wore  sandals,  a  slit  being  cut  in  the  sole 
between  the  big  toe  and  the  one  next  it,  to  allow  a  rawT  leather 
bight  of  hide  to  come  around  the  big  toe,  and  who  often  were 
without  hats,  and  whose  ponchos  completed  their  full  dress,  to 
be  as  courteous  as  though  educated.  Contrast  these  with  our 
usual  "  Pike  County"  gentry,  and  there  is  a  very  wide  difference  ; 
the  latter  have  an  offensive  self-assertion  and  vulgarity.     The 


280  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

Spanish- American  women  are  not  learned  ;  not  one  of  them 
would  endeavor  to  instruct  you  in  regard  to  the  operation  of  a 
steam-engine,  nor  have  they  any  of  the  so-called  accomplish- 
ments supposed  to  be  acquired  at  fashionable  boarding-schools ; 
yet  if  compared  in  a  practical  way  they  are  none  the  less  agree- 
able for  all  that,  and  in  the  usual  matters  of  domestic  life  are 
in  my  belief  the  superiors  of  the  greater  number  of  our  much- 
vaunted  "  educated'7  women.  When  they  marry  and  have  chil- 
dren, there  is  no  European  race  that  exercises  a  more  intelligent, 
unremitting,  and  gentle  care  over  them,  such  as  would  quite  dis- 
compose the  ordinary  American  or  English  woman  "  up  in  all 
the  ologies." 

The  captain  did  not  leave  the  vessel,  or,  if  he  did,  only  to 
take  a  pull  in  his  gig  and  to  return  after  a  short  walk.  After  a 
tarry  of  five  days  we  sailed  for  Paranagua,  lying  in  the  bight  of 
land  towards  Rio.  This  port  had  been  the  favorite  resort  for 
many  years  of  vessels  engaged  in  the  slave-trade ;  it  had  shoal 
water  and  two  entrances,  and,  being  unfrequented  by  foreign 
vessels,  the  traffic  was  not  observed  by  them,  and  thus  in  a  great 
measure  was  not  known  to  the  outside  world.  The  yellow  fever 
of  Brazil,  introduced  only  a  few  years  before  by  the  slavers,  was 
a  supposed  modification  of  typhus,  and  was  very  fatal,  not  un- 
like the  fevers  that  prevailed  in  Rio  in  1889,  which  supply  the 
medical  faculty  of  that  region  with  a  topic  for  animated  discus- 
sion. It  was  this  type  of  fever  that  finally  visited  Montevideo, 
where  one  might  suppose  yellow  fever  could  find  no  foothold, 
and  Buenos  Ayres,  where  the  prevalence  of  it  was  traceable  to 
the  pollution  of  the  water  by  the  sinks  that  had  been  accumu- 
lating ever  since  the  city  had  been  located.  It  swept  around  to 
the  west  coast  of  America,  was  quite  fatal  in  Callao  and  Lima, 
and  finally  found  its  way  to  Northern  Mexico,  along  and  near 
the  Pacific  coast.  Some  six  years  ago  it  was  fearfully  fatal  in 
Guaymas  and  neighboring  towns,  a  region  that  had  been  sup- 
posed to  be  exempt  from  yellow  fever. 

We  remained  at  anchor  outside  of  Paranagua  for  two  days, 
and  sent  in  boats  to  visit  the  town ;  there  were  huge  fitments 
for  the  slave-trade,  but  that  was  of  the  past,  and  everything  was 
dilapidated. 


VISIT  TO   COUNT  MEDEM  AT  PETROPOLIS.  281 

After  two  days  at  sea,  we  reached  Rio  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber. I  found  that  Count  Medem,  mentioned  in  the  account  of 
my  voyage  to  California,  was  at  Petropolis,  and  did  not  fail  to 
redeem  my  promise  to  pay  him  a  visit.  He  was  quite  cordial, 
expressed  his  gratification,  and  gave  me  an  account  of  his  ad- 
venturous trip  across  the  Andes  a  month  or  so  after  we  had 
parted  company  at  Panama ;  his  Arab  servant  recognized  me 
as  an  old  travelling-companion,  and  had  me  well  taken  care  of. 
The  snows  on  the  Andes  had  set  in  sooner  than  usual,  and  after 
the  count  and  his  companion  were  near  the  summit,  which  is 
more  than  twelve  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  a  heavy  snow- 
storm with  a  violent  wind  caught  them.  They  were  compelled 
to  crawl  some  miles  on  hands  and  knees  to  gain  a  shelter. 
The  violence  of  the  wind  would  not  permit  them  to  stand, 
and  to  stop  would  have  been  to  perish  with  the  cold.  He 
regarded  their  reaching  a  shelter  as  little  short  of  a  miracle. 
The  count  spoke  not  less  than  six  European  languages,  and 
English  quite  as  well  as  myself;  he  had  been  in  Egypt  and 
Persia  for  seventeen  years,  and  was  well  versed  in  Arabic  and 
its  dialects.  He  knew  Mehemet  Ali,  the  slaughterer  of  the 
Mamelukes,  very  well ;  although  when  he  knew  him  Mehemet 
was  more  than  eighty  years  of  age,  he  still  had  much  of  the 
vivacity  of  a  young  man,  and,  although  he  never  read,  the 
count  thought  him  one  of  the  best-informed  men  he  had  ever 
met.  His  method  of  gaining  information  was,  when  he  received 
a  visit,  to  turn  the  conversation  of  his  visitor  in  the  direction 
of  his  special  knowledge.  He  had  a  remarkable  memory,  and 
the  count  remarked  jocularly  that  he  had  to  take  care  that  his 
statements  were  always  in  accord.  Mehemet  was  very  fond  of 
hearing  about  Napoleon,  and  from  various  sources,  so  as  to 
eliminate  the  personal  and  race  equations.  The  count  one  day 
gave  him  an  account  of  a  conversation  between  Napoleon  and 
his  physician,  the  Baron  Larrey.  From  the  familiarity  of  his 
intercourse  with  Mehemet,  he  had  quite  lost  sight  of  the  fact 
that  the  viceroy  was  an  old  man.  He  had  told  his  story  before 
it  occurred  to  him  that  it  was  entirely  lacking  in  diplomacy, 
and  indeed  as  a  fact  was  not  applicable  to  Mehemet ;  he  was 
awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  bUise  by  seeing  his  listener  become 


282  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

suddenly  angry  and  hearing  him  remark  that  "  European  phy- 
sicians were  great  fools  anyhow."  The  count  suddenly  dis- 
covered that  he  had  forgotten  to  attend  to  something  at  his 
house,  and  making  his  excuse  for  an  immediate  retreat,  left  in 
haste. 

When  I  went  to  bed  I  told  the  count  that  my  habit  was  to 
get  up  early  and  walk  over  the  country,  and  made  some  inquiries 
as  to  what  there  was  to  see.  After  informing  me  on  this  point, 
he  said  he  would  be  up  as  soon  as  I,  and  would  walk  with  me ; 
but,  as  I  did  not  think  that  was  his  habit,  I  left  the  house  in 
the  morning  without  making  a  noise  or  informing  him  of  my 
movements,  and  at  sunrise  was  on  my  way,  over  hills  and 
through  the  intervening  valleys.  The  inhabitants  of  the  labor- 
ing class  in  these  valleys  were  mostly  Germans.  I  asked  my 
way  of  them,  or  had  from  them  a  word  of  greeting  as  I  passed 
along.  After  an  hour  or  so,  as  I  was  returning  over  a  higher 
road,  I  met  the  count,  who  had  gone  in  search  of  me.  I  ex- 
pressed my  surprise  that  he  had  not  missed  me ;  he  said  he  had 
asked  along  the  line  of  road  as  to  my  direction,  and  then  took 
the  upper  road,  feeling  sure  that  I  would  return  by  that  road. 

In  the  afternoon  he  ordered  horses,  and  we  passed  over  all 
the  roads  and  by-paths  on  the  mountain-top.  It  was  at  the 
time  of  the  Crimean  war,  and  we  happened  to  come  across  the 
British  minister  to  Brazil,  who  was  disposed  to  indulge  in  a 
little  badinage  in  relation  to  the  waning  of  the  Crescent,  the 
emblem  of  Mohammedanism,  which  the  count  took  very  good- 
naturedly.  The  point  of  the  joke  was  that  the  count  was 
making  preparations  to  leave  Brazil  for  other  duties,  and  in 
recognition  of  the  services  of  his  servant,  who  had  been  with 
him  for  twenty  years,  had  built  him  a  very  nice  hotel  of  a  dozen 
or  more  rooms,  and  wras  then  living  with  him.  The  sign  of  the 
hotel  was  a  crescent. 

The  count  had  the  idea  that  he  had  been  poisoned  by  taking 
too  much  quinine  at  various  times,  and  this  idea  had  been  in- 
tensified or  engendered  by  a  German  physician  of  note.  He 
had  not  eaten  any  other  flesh  than  that  of  fowls  or  of  fish  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  because,  as  he  said,  it  did  not  agree 
with  him.     In  travelling  his  servant  was  always  his  cook,  and 


VISIT  TO   COUNT  ME  DEM  AT  PETROPOLIS.  283 

prepared  his  fowls  in  a  peculiar  way,  which  the  count  com- 
municated to  me  in  an  impressive  manner,  first  making  me 
promise  that  when  the  occasion  arrived  I  would  try  it.  He 
said  there  was  a  popular  belief  that  a  young  fowl  was  savory 
and  tender ;  the  latter  it  might  be,  but  it  lacked  flavor  and 
nutritious  qualities,  and  could  not  be  in  good  condition  ;  whereas 
a  full-grown  fowl,  if  properly  fed,  would  be.  It  mattered  not 
how  old  the  fowl  was ;  if  in  good  condition,  and  properly  pre- 
pared, it  would  be  nutritious  and  savory.  After  selecting  the 
best  fowls  obtainable,  his  man  would  cut  off  their  heads,  put 
them  in  a  vessel,  place  a  weight  upon  them  to  keep  them  down, 
and  then  cover  them  with  water.  If  the  weather  was  warm, 
in  twelve  hours  they  would  be  in  condition,  which  would  be 
indicated  by  the  skin  just  tearing  upon  their  being  picked.  In 
cooler  weather  a  day  or  more  might  be  necessary.  After  being 
picked,  the  fowl  should  be  washed,  and  then  cut  up,  if  intended 
to  be  cooked  in  that  way,  or  prepared  for  roasting,  if  desired. 
Putting  a  fowl  in  a  basin  of  water  as  it  was  cut  up  deprived  it 
of  its  nutrition,  and  caused  the  flesh  to  harden.  I  have  en- 
deavored to  have  the  count's  ideas  carried  out  in  my  household, 
though  with  a  good  deal  of  difficulty,  and  despite  the  covert 
sneers  of  cooks  who  did  not  know  that  the  proper  preparation 
of  food  extends  in  the  animal  economy  a  good  deal  beyond 
making  it  grateful  to  the  appetite.  Half  the  ailments  in  life 
result  from  either  ignorance  or  indifference  in  the  preparation 
of  food,  and  the  person  who  is  sick  and  does  not  appreciate 
what  a  proper  dietetic  treatment  may  effect  in  relation  to  his 
ailment,  suffers  greatly  from  his  obliquity  of  perception  or  lack 
of  knowledge.  I  bade  farewell  to  the  count  one  bright  morning, 
and  regret  to  say  that  I  never  met  him  again.  He  went  home, 
and  died  some  years  after. 

I  have  recently  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  height  of  Petrop- 
olis ;  the  best  information  obtainable  gave  it  as  three  thousand 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  I  had  supposed  it  to  be  nearly 
double  that  height.  The  count  told  me  that  the  relay  of  horses 
about  half-way  up  was  the  highest  point  of  development  of  a 
case  of  yellow  fever. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  we  went  up  the  harbor  on  board  of  a 


284  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

little  steamer,  with  very  considerable  speed,  some  twelve  miles 
or  more,  then  took  a  railroad  on  a  level  fertile  plain  to  the  foot 
of  the  mountains,  and  then  a  stage-coach  to  the  summit,  over  one 
of  the  best  macadamized  roads  I  have  ever  seen. 

When  returning  to  Rio,  I  walked  in  advance  of  the  stage- 
coach to  the  ridge  from  which  the  descent  began.  Below,  in  the 
distance,  lay  the  harbor  of  Rio,  and  the  city,  and  away  on  the 
horizon,  islands  and  the  beautiful  blue  sea.  In  the  foreground 
was  a  steep  descent  clothed  in  the  richest  of  tropical  verdure. 
The  atmosphere  redolent  with  the  perfume  of  fragrant  flowers, 
and  the  sweet  melody  of  many  birds,  added  a  zest  to  my  appre- 
ciation of  one  of  the  most  charming  pictures  I  have  ever  seen. 

When  I  went  on  board  of  the  vessel  I  found  that  the  captain 
had  taken  up  his  quarters  on  shore.  The  merchantman  com- 
manded by  Captain  Sewell  had  come  to  Rio  to  complete  cargo, 
and  the  skipper's  dashing  wife  and  nice  little  daughter  were 
again  receiving  the  attentions  of  our  captain,  who  wore  top-boots 
and  other  incongruities,  with  navy  sword,  etc.  During  the  day- 
time they  were  usually  at  Tejueo,  a  mountain-height  of  three 
thousand  feet,  ten  miles  from  Rio,  access  being  had  to  it  by  a 
street  railway  through  a  picturesque  valley.  The  captain  was 
as  lavish  with  costly  presents  as  he  was  with  his  hospitality; 
indeed,  he  seemed  to  have  no  rational  idea  of  the  value  of  money 
so  long  as  it  could  be  procured  on  his  written  order. 

He  came  on  board  one  day  bringing  a  very  large  ring-tail 
monkey  of  grave  aspect,  that  had  the  appearance  of  being  quite 
old.  The  animal's  hair  was  long  and  generally  black,  except 
that  on  his  head,  and  the  long  side-whiskers,  that  seemed  silvered 
o'er  from  a  lapse  of  years ;  his  eyes  were  small  and  bleared,  his 
figure  gaunt,  and  his  usual  movements  slow.  When  released  on 
board  of  the  vessel  he  looked  around  a  few  moments,  then  went 
up  into  the  main-top  slowly,  and  studied  the  situation  ;  then  he 
came  down  the  rigging  and  seated  himself  on  the  hammock- 
netting  with  a  gravity  of  demeanor  quite  unlike  that  of  an  ordi- 
nary monkey.  His  attention  soon  became  riveted  upon  a  fine 
young  setter  that  was  lying  on  the  deck,  and  this  animal  seemed 
to  occupy  his  attention  and  study  for  days.  At  last,  one  day 
after  we  had  gone  to  sea,  he  swooped  down  from  the  rigging, 


A   SPIRITUALIST.  285 

his  usual  lounging-place,  wound  his  long  tail  partially  around 
the  dog  with  the  utmost  rapidity,  and  jumped  for  the  rigging, 
endeavoring  to  carry  the  dog  with  him,  but  the  weight  of  the 
animal  was  too  great,  and  he  either  released  him,  or  his  hold 
gave  way,  after  he  had  fairly  raised  him  from  the  deck.  I  never 
have  seen  a  look  of  greater  horror  and  surprise  than  that  which 
came  over  the  face  of  that  dog  as  he  fell  upon  the  deck.  It  was 
as  though  he  was  looking  at  the  arch-fiend.  His  countenance 
settled  into  an  expression  of  intense  rage,  which  the  monkey 
fostered  by  seating  himself  just  clear  of  the  reach  of  the  dog, 
and  looked  around,  apparently  everywhere  but  at  the  dog,  that 
was  jumping  up  wildly  to  seize  his  persecutor,  but  could  not 
quite  reach  him.  It  was  the  most  curious  instance  of  quiet 
malice  that  I  have  ever  seen  exhibited  by  an  animal. 

Mrs.  Sewell  was  a  "  table- tipper,"  more  reverently  styled  a 
"  spiritualist."  On  one  occasion  a  brother  officer  and  myself 
called  to  see  the  captain,  probably  before  we  left  Montevideo, 
and  found  him  with  Mrs.  Sewell,  her  daughter,  and  some  of  their 
friends.  A  "  table-tipping"  was  proposed ;  when  the  party  was 
made  up  it  consisted  of  seven  or  eight  persons.  It  was  my  first 
and  last  experience,  and  seemed  to  me  very  surprising.  Ques- 
tions as  to  the  movements  of  the  vessel  were  asked  by  the  captain 
and  answered ;  among  other  questions,  it  answered  that  he  was 
going  to  the  West  Indies,  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  not  his 
intention  at  that  time,  although  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  take 
the  vessel  home.  He  wished  to  know  whether  his  action  would 
be  approved  or  sustained  ;  but  to  this  the  "  spirit"  made  no  re- 
sponse. We  remained  three  weeks  in  Rio,  during  which  time 
the  captain  rarely  visited  the  vessel ;  he  lived  at  a  hotel  in  the 
city,  spending  part  of  the  time  at  Tejuco. 

On  getting  to  sea  we  found  the  trade-winds  quite  to  the  north- 
ward, blowing  nearly  along  the  coast,  and  very  fresh  too.  Had 
we  stood  off  on  the  port  tack  and  made  sufficient  easting  to  clear 
Pernambuco,  we  might  have  spared  ourselves  at  least  ten  days 
of  heavy  battering  against  a  head-wind ;  as  it  was,  we  carried 
sail  heavily  and  made  slow  progress ;  it  was  three  weeks  before 
we  weathered  the  coast,  and  then  the  captain  did  not  enter  Per- 
nambuco, as  he  had  been  ordered  to  do,  but  kept  on  his  way 


286         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

home.  After  we  had  reached  the  Windward  Islands  he  made 
up  his  mind  to  enter  the  delightful  harbor  of  Bridgetown,  on 
the  southwest  end  of  the  island  of  Barbadoes.  This  island  has 
a  larger  population  in  proportion  to  its  surface  than  any  other 
agricultural  district  on  or  near  this  continent.  Here  I  met  my 
agreeable  acquaintance,  Turner  the  chemist,  who  had  left  George- 
town, Demerara,  with  his  family  and  taken  up  his  residence  near 
Bridgetown. 

Only  a  few  months  before  our  arrival  the  cholera  had  paid  a 
visit  to  the  island  and  swept  off  some  fifteen  thousand  of  the 
inhabitants,  mostly  blacks,  they  forming  the  bulk  of  the  popula- 
tion. I  was  told  of  Turner's  remarkable  success  iu  the  treat- 
ment of  the  disease,  and  asked  him  as  to  his  method.  As  stated 
before,  he  was  not  a  physician  but  a  skilful  chemist,  and  his 
treatment  was  entirely  gratuitous.  He  said  that  there  being 
very  few  physicians  on  the  island,  and  none  of  them  being  will- 
ing to  come  out  of  the  city,  he  was  called  upon  by  the  blacks  in 
their  village  near  by,  often  when  the  patient  seemed  almost  in  a 
collapsed  state.  If  he  found  the  attack  began  by  spasms,  he 
administered  camphor  at  once  ;  if  it  began  by  diarrhoea,  he  used 
the  other  remedy  employed  by  homoeopath  ists  in  the  United 
States,  with  hot  applications  to  the  abdomen.  He  had  treated 
more  than  two  hundred  patients,  and  only  five  per  cent,  of  them 
had  died.  I  asked  what  treatment  he  would  adopt  for  yellow 
fever.  He  replied  that  if  I  had  asked  him  in  Demerara  when 
I  met  him  there,  he  would  have  said  one  thing,  but  now  he 
would  say  another ;  he  had  been  so  successful  in  the  treatment 
of  a  very  violent  type  of  cholera  by  homoeopathy  that,  should 
an  occasion  arise,  he  would  adopt  the  same  system  of  treatment 
for  yellow  fever. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  was  Christmas,  and  we  were  in  time 
for  a  grand  "  Dignity  ball,"  such  as  that  described  by  Marryat 
years  before,  when  slavery  gave  the  festivity  its  impress.  The 
"  Lady"  of  old  was  Mistress  of  Ceremonies  at  the  time  of  our 
visit,  but  it  was  said  that  the  Dignity  balls  were  not  as  of  old, 
and  certainly  the  Directress  was  no  longer  attractive. 

The  cultivation  of  Barbadoes  has  been  in  sugar-cane  pretty 
much  ever  since  it  was  inhabited  ;  and  the  excellence  of  the 


BARBADOES.  287 

roads,  the  fine  buildings  for  the  making  of  sugar,  and  the  very 
comfortable  dwellings  of  the  owners  of  the  plantations  gave 
token  that  it  was  still  a  profitable  industry.  The  inhabitants 
were  very  hospitable,  as  indeed  they  are  usually  in  new  countries, 
when  they  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  persons  who  visit 
them  are  worthy  of  hospitality.  There  are  few  trees,  and  only 
some  moderate  elevations  of  several  hundred  feet  in  height  on 
the  northern  part,  the  other  parts  being  moderately  undulating, 
and  the  whole  of  the  island  being  occupied.  It  is  fringed  with 
coral,  and  the  trade-winds  sweep  over  it  almost  constantly,  being 
partially  broken  up  in  August  and  a  part  of  September,  when 
the  belt  of  the  earth  north  of  the  tropics  is  abnormally  heated. 

Not  only  is  the  land  extremely  fruitful,  but  the  sea  teems  with 
fish, — among  them  the  flying-fish,  one  of  the  most  delicious  pan- 
fishes  of  the  sea.  In  the  dark  of  the  moon  it  is  caught  in  any 
desired  quantity  by  pulling  a  short  distance  from  shore,  or  rather 
hoisting  a  sail  and  being  blown  there,  and  then  lighting  a  torch. 
By  the  use  of  scoop-nets  the  boats  are  loaded  down  to  the  gun- 
wale in  a  few  minutes  ;  the  fish  swarm  around  in  such  numbers 
that  they  only  require  to  be  lifted  into  the  boat.  They  are  put 
up  in  oil,  and  in  salt,  in  earthen  jars,  and  might  well  take  the 
place  of  the  sardine  as  a  relish.  Were  the  necessities  of  the 
islanders  greater,  these  fish  would  undoubtedly  be  found  in  our 
markets. 

We  left  our  hospitable  friends  on  the  2d  of  January,  1855, 
and  six  days  after,  when  north  of  the  island  of  St.  Thomas,  had 
a  gale  that  came  near  being  our  last  to  encounter.  The  wind 
had  been  heavy  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  three  points  abaft 
the  starboard  beam ;  we  had  gone  along  without  shipping  much 
water,  with  the  sails  trimmed  rather  "  fine," — that  is,  not  to  get 
the  full  force  of  the  wind.  The  brig  steered  very  well,  and  that 
wras  her  only  good  quality.  With  the  increasing  gale  the  vessel 
was  very  uneasy,  and  at  two  o'clock  p.m.  the  captain  directed 
that  she  should  be  brought  by  the  wind  under  short  sail,  or,  as 
seamen  call  it,  "  laid  to."  Of  this  the  log-book  says,  "  At  2.15 
took  in  fore  topsail ;  at  2.30  brought  by  the  wind  under  close- 
reefed  main-topsail,  foresail,  and  fore-topmast  stay-sail;  car- 
ried away  the  fore-topmast  stay-sail  sheet,  and  were  boarded 


288         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

by  a  sea  that  came  near  swamping  us ;  hove  to  under  the  close- 
reefed  main-topsail,  and  at  3.30  close-reefed  the  main-try-sail, 
set  it,  and  took  in  the  main-topsail." 

Before  attempting  to  bring  by  the  wind  we  should  have  hauled 
up  and  furled  the  foresail  that  was  reefed,  and  set  the  main-try- 
sail close-reefed,  then  taken  in  our  main-topsail  and  brought 
her  by  the  wind.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  parting  of  the  fore- 
topmast  stay-sail  sheet,  and  either  the  letting  go  of  the  fore- 
sheet  or  its  parting  also,  our  cruise  would  have  ended  then  and 
there.  The  vessel  was  pressed  down  with  the  weight  of  canvas, 
and  when  the  heavy  sea  boarded  her  she  lay  over  on  her  side  to 
such  a  degree  that  the  water  played  back  and  forth  over  her 
lee  hammock-netting.  It  did  not  seem  to  me  possible  that  she 
would  ever  right  again,  and,  standing  just  abaft  the  main-mast, 
looking  over  the  wide  expanse  of  ocean,  with  nothing  but  the 
weather  side  of  the  brig  visible,  I  made  up  my  mind  that  should 
she  go  down  I  would  not  attempt  to  prolong  my  misery  by  seiz- 
ing on  anything  that  might  be  left  afloat.  I  suppose,  however, 
that  I  would  have  done  so  nevertheless,  for  the  instinct  to  main- 
tain life  as  long  as  possible  is  so  great  that  at  the  final  moment 
it  exerts  itself  to  its  utmost,  when  even  reason  itself  would  assert 
that  the  struggle  was  useless. 

The  captain,  who  rarely  came  on  deck  unless  after  night, 
suddenly  appeared  on  deck  while  the  vessel  was  lying  on  her 
beam  ends,  gave  orders  to  take  in  the  foresail  and  haul  down 
the  stay-sail,  and  wound  up  by  shouting  that  he  could  save  the 
ship  if  anybody  could,  and  if  she  could  not  be  saved  "  we  would 
all  go  to  hell  together."  He  was  a  very  good  seaman,  and  fully 
appreciated  the  situation.  When  we  had  nothing  but  the  main- 
topsail  on  her,  the  pressure  of  the  wind  was  so  great  that  the 
water  stood  nearly  steadily  over  the  sills  of  the  lee  gun-ports. 
After  that  sail  was  taken  in,  under  the  close-reefed  main  try-sail 
the  vessel  shipped  very  little  water. 

During  the  night  the  gale  gradually  died  away,  and  the  next 
day  saw  us  again  under  sail,  pursuing  our  way  to  New  York. 
Several  days  later,  we  had  another  heavy  blow,  but  laid  the 
vessel  to  properly,  and  the  night  before  we  got  into  port  we  had 
a  furious  southeaster  and  went  before  it  under  a  heavy  press  of 


SOME  RETROSPECTIONS.  289 

sail.  Had  we  broached-to  it  would  have  been  bad  for  all  on 
board.  As  it  was,  we  overran  our  log,  and  at  broad  daylight 
found  ourselves  off  Rockaway  Beach,  with  the  wind  canting 
south  and  westward.  It  was  lucky  for  us  that  the  wind  soon 
after  came  in  a  jiffy  from  the  northwest,  and  before  it  became 
very  strong  we  beat  in,  keeping  the  Jersey  coast  close  aboard, 
and  by  night  had  gained  our  port. 

Our  captain  sent  a  special  messenger  to  the  Department  an- 
nouncing the  return  of  the  vessel  to  the  United  States.  His 
reasons  for  bringing  her  home  without  orders  were  so  unsatisfac- 
tory that  he  was  immediately  dismissed.  He  was  an  excellent 
seaman,  very  generous  in  his  disposition,  and  gentlemanly  to 
those  around  him  under  all  circumstances.  In  spite  of  his  dere- 
lictions, the  officers  had  a  strong  personal  attachment  to  him. 

I  was  detached  from  the  wretched .  vessel  before  she  went  to 
sea  :  had  I  not  been,  it  was  my  intention  to  resign  and  follow 
whatever  pursuit  I  was  fitted  for,  rather  than  be  subjected  again 
to  so  horrible  a  life.  In  August,  1864,  when  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  volunteer  officer,  the  vessel  was  capsized  in  a  gale  of 
wind,  only  one  man  being  left  to  tell  the  tale ;  a  small  boat 
remained  afloat,  and  he  happened  to  reach  it,  and  was  finally 
rescued  by  a  passing  vessel.  Four  of  the  officers  who  served  on 
board  at  the  time  of  which  I  write  are  yet  living.  One  is  a  pay 
director  in  the  navy ;  another,  who  became  a  Confederate  general, 
is  now  in  Louisiana ;  another,  who  went  into  the  Southern  army, 
is  now  in  Texas,  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law.  All  are  "as 
well  as  could  be  expected"  after  such  a  lapse  of  time  and  passing 
through  such  scenes. 


19 


290  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

Ordered  to  Duty  at  the  Naval  Observatory,  Washington,  under  Commandei 
M.  F.  Maury — Observations  on  Commander  Maury  and  other  Officers  on 
Duty — "Duke"  Gwinn — Jefferson  Davis — Service  on  Board  the  Saranac, 
on  a  Voyage  to  the  Pacific — An  Account  of  the  Voyage  from  Philadelphia 
— Incidents  of  the  Voyage,  and  Mention  of  the  Different  Points  touched — 
Service  on  Board  the  Merrimac — Sail  for  Tumbez — Payta — San  Lorenzo 
— Callao — Eandolph  Clay,  Minister  to  Peru — Mummies — Gathering  Skulls 
— Ancient  Temples. 

After  getting  clear  of  this  disgusting  little  brig,  which  one 
of  the  officers  very  properly  said  tended  to  destroy  not  only 
self-respect,  but  respect  for  anybody  and  everything,  I  paid  a 
visit  to  relatives  in  Ohio.  Up  to  the  last  of  January  the 
weather  was  exceptionally  mild ;  then  the  cold  set  in  and  until 
the  latter  part  of  March  snow  lay  on  the  ground  in  Washington. 
At  this  period  there  was  little  shore-duty  for  young  officers. 
Usually  a  leave  of  three  months  followed  a  cruise,  and,  soon 
after,  orders  to  sea.  With  officers  of  rank  the  case  was  different 
from  the  fact  that  the  number  of  vessels  kept  in  commission 
was  insufficient  to  give  all  of  them  sea-service  save  at  consider- 
able intervals  of  time. 

I  was  ordered  on  duty  to  the  Naval  Observatory  at  Washing- 
ton, under  Commander  M.  F.  Maury,  widely  known  through 
his  wind  and  current  charts,  and  as  the  author  of  the  "  Geog- 
raphy of  the  Seas."  He  had  been  debarred  from  service  afloat 
by  a  broken  and  much  shortened  leg,  the  result  of  an  upset  of 
a  stage-coach.  At  times  he  would  invite  me  into  his  office,  and 
would  read  or  discuss  something  of  interest.  I  recall  his  in- 
dignation on  one  occasion  over  a  paper  published  in  the  Southern 
IAterary  Review  criticising  an  expression  of  his  relating  to  the 
Gulf  Stream.  He  had  described  it  as  a  river  in  the  ocean,  the 
edges  of  which  were  subject  to  mutations  by  reason  of  the 
winds,  and  said  that  it  flowed  "  up-hill."  The  critic  remarked 
that  every  fresh-water  creek  having  "  bars"  in  it  might  in  like 
manner  be  said  to  flow  "  up-hill."     The  surface  alone  marked 


"DUKE"    GWINN.  291 

the  plane  and  determined  the  flow,  which  could  never  be  "  up- 
hill." Maury  was  able  and  agreeable,  and  was  a  pioneer  in  the 
study  of  the  seas,  and  aided  greatly  in  establishing  an  intelligent 
navigation  of  them  under  sail,  which  in  his  day  was  the  only 
motive  power  employed,  save  between  Europe  and  America 
and  routes  to  and  through  the  Mediterranean,  where  steam  was 
coming  into  use  to  some  extent. 

A  dozen  young  officers  were  on  duty  at  that  time,  most  of 
them  engaged  in  examining  log-books  and  tabulating  the  results 
in  geographical  scales  for  every  month  in  the  year.  Others 
were  engaged  in  calculations  of  different  kinds,  among  the 
number  Lieutenant  Cook,  a  quaint  little  North  Carolinian 
who  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  lieutenants  for  several 
years,  by  reason  of  a  "  retiring  Board"  and  a  subsequent  Board 
restoring  officers  to  the  active  list,  thus  overloading  the  number 
allowed  by  law  and  stopping  promotion  until  the  number  was 
reduced  to  the  limit  of  the  law.  He  was  naturally  unhappy 
and  could  not  be  patient ;  had  there  been  one  more  vacancy 
before  the  action  of  the  second  Board,  he  would  have  been  a 
commander  for  half  a  dozen  years,  a  grade  he  never  reached. 
He  resigned  in  May,  1861,  to  "serve  his  State,"  and  during  the 
civil  war  commanded  a  small  steamer  of  the  Confederate  squad- 
ron in  Pasquotank  River  under  Lynch,  which  was  entirely 
destroyed  by  Rowan.  When  at  the  Observatory,  Cook  was 
often  reminded  of  the  honor  he  enjoyed  in  being  the  patriarch 
of  the  lieutenants,  many  of  whom  were  venerable  in  years. 
He  was  disposed,  however,  to  regard  this  as  "  chaff." 

For  some  months  when  on  this  duty  I  lived  in  the  same  house 
and  sat  at  the  same  table  with  "  Duke"  Gwinn,  who  attained 
his  title  through  the  Emperor  Maximilian  in  Mexico,  after  the 
close  of  our  civil  war.  He  was  a  large  and  distinguished- 
looking  man,  and  a  typical  Southern  politician  of  that  day.  In 
ante-bellum  times  he  had  been  a  Washington  lobbyist,  and  he 
resumed  that  occupation  as  soon  as  he  could  advantageously  do 
so  after  the  termination  of  the  war.  He  was  a  Lesseps'  Panama 
Canal  man,  but  died  before  the  canal  was  "  finished." 

My  duties  occupied  me  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  and 
long  walks  in  the  evening,  usually  up  Rock  Creek,  were  my 


292  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE   NEW. 

recreation.  In  a  walk  to  the  Capitol  one  afternoon,  I  met 
Jefferson  Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War.  He  greeted  me  cor- 
dially, invited  me  to  come  and  see  him  at  any  time,  and  rather 
reproached  me  for  not  having  called.  I  said  he  ought  to  regard 
my  not  having  done  so  as  an  especial  mark  of  favor  on  my 
part:  he  had  onerous  official  duties,  and  a  large  number  of 
personal  friends  who  demanded  much  of  his  time,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  many  persons  who  would  come  to  see  him  whether 
welcome  or  not.  He  smiled  pleasantly,  and  said  those  were 
not  the  persons  he  wished  to  see,  but  those  who,  like  myself, 
never  had  anything  to  ask  of  him. 

After  a  little  more  than  two  years  of  Observatory  duty  I  was 
ordered  as  second  lieutenant  of  the  Saranac,  lying  at  Philadel- 
phia, to  make  a  cruise  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Soon  after  joining 
the  vessel  I  realized  that  the  executive  officer  was  not  an  expert 
in  putting  a  ship  in  order.  The  captain  was  old,  had  never 
served  on  board  of  a  steam  vessel-of-war,  and  had  grown  up  in 
a  great  degree  in  the  merchant  service.  Although  not  cultured, 
he  had  an  honest  purpose,  good  sense,  and  a  kind  heart.  The 
Saranac  left  Philadelphia  on  the  15th  of  October  for  the  island 
of  St.  Thomas,  to  coal,  en  route  to  our  station.  On  the  28th,  in 
latitude  35°  north,  longitude  72°  west,  we  had  a  heavy  gale  of 
twenty- four  hours'  duration.  The  jib-boom  was  carried  away, 
and  the  cut-offs  of  the  engines  worked  badly ;  this  caused  us  to 
turn  back  after  we  had  reached  latitude  29°  and  longitude  63°. 
When  the  captain  called  a  council  of  the  officers  in  relation  to 
returning,  I  was  opportunely  in  charge  of  the  deck. 

The  main-mast  of  the  vessel  was  stepped  on  the  berth-deck,  on 
account  of  the  enginery-placement,  instead  of  on  the  keelson  as 
usual;  the  leverage  was  great,  and  the  enginery  being  partly 
secured  to  the  berth-deck  served  to  throw  it  out  of  line.  The 
main  yard  was  carried  aloft  at  all  times,  because  it  looked  "  ship- 
shape," when  it  should  have  been  lowered  and  lashed  at  sea 
until  its  use  was  required ;  the  weight  of  spars  aloft  with  such 
an  insecure  step  of  the  mast  could  not  fail  to  disarrange  the  ma- 
chinery. When  we  turned  back  we  were  nearly  head  to  wind, 
and  when  we  had  a  gale  we  always  steamed  head  on,  which, 
in  a  short  vessel  like  ours,  served  to  strain  and  disarrange  the 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE    VOYAGE.  293 

engines.  The  Saranac  was  quite  slow,  and,  being  managed  in 
this  way,  her  coal-consumption  was  enormous.  At  last  we  found 
it  worth  while  to  send  down  our  lower  yards  and  lash  them, 
which  we  did  in  a  heavy  gale  with  some  difficulty. 

We  reached  Norfolk  on  the  1st  of  November,  and  remained 
there  three  weeks,  making  repairs  on  the  enginery,  leaving  on  the 
21st.  One  week  out,  in  latitude  25°  north,  longitude  63°  west, 
we  had  a  gale  such  as  has  been  described  as  requiring  several 
men  to  "  hold  the  hair  of  the  captain  on  his  head."  Our  senior 
lieutenant,  learned,  but  not  in  the  lore  of  the  sea,  said  when  we 
were  taking  tea  that  should  the  engines  give  out  we  should  be 
"  in  Davy  Jones's  locker"  in  five  minutes.  About  ten  p.m.  the 
engines  ceased  to  turn  over,  the  vessel  fell  off  into  the  trough  of 
the  sea,  rolled  heavily,  and  shipped  a  good  deal  of  water.  It 
filled  the  launch  hoisted  and  topped  up  on  her  davits  on  the 
weather  quarter,  and  I  thought  would  carry  them  away.  We 
bored  large  holes  through  the  bottom  and  saved  her,  and  set  the 
main  try-sail,  which  made  the  vessel  easier.  I  had  gone  on 
deck  when  the  engines  ceased  to  work,  to  do  whatever  might  be 
required.  At  midnight  I  took  charge  of  the  deck  until  four  a.m., 
and  when  relieved  was  tired  enough  to  go  below  and  sleep  despite 
the  heat  and  vapor.  About  noon  the  enginery  was  adjusted,  the 
gale  abated,  and  we  steered  for  Bridgetown,  Barbadoes,  where 
we  anchored  six  days  later. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  the  captain  went  on  shore  to  pay 
his  respects  to  the  governor,  who  lived  a  short  distance  from  the 
town.  On  his  return  the  horses  attached  to  his  carriage  ran 
away,  and  threw  him  out  on  the  road,  bruising  him  severely. 
A  young  officer  who  accompanied  him  was  also  injured,  but, 
being  young  and  strong,  soon  recovered.  The  captain  did  not 
leave  his  cabin  until  we  reached  Valparaiso,  two  months  later. 

Our  stay  at  Bridgetown  was  two  weeks.  The  inhabitants 
and  the  officers  of  the  garrison  were  very  hospitable  and  agree- 
able, and  the  island  was  free  from  epidemics,  with  a  delightful 
trade-wind  constantly  blowing  over  it.  Almost  every  part  of 
the  island  was  under  cultivation  in  sugar-cane,  and  the  planta- 
tions were  models  of  neatness.  It  would  seem  as  if  there  could 
be  no  hold  for  an  epidemic  such  as  prevailed  a  few  months  before 


294  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

a  former  visit,  when  the  island  was  decimated  by  the  cholera. 
During  my  absence  of  three  years  the  yellow  fever  had  also 
prevailed,  but  in  a  mild  form. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  port  we  entered  a  strong  current,  the 
continuation  of  the  equatorial,  banked  between  the  northeast  and 
southeast  trades  in  the  Atlantic  in  a  calm  belt  of  several  degrees 
in  width  ;  this  "  head"  through  the  surface-friction  of  the  winds 
causes  the  waters  to  flow  westward  towards  Cape  St.  Roque,  on 
the  coast  of  Brazil,  where  they  bifurcate,  more  or  less  flowing 
southward  towards  Pernambuco,  dependent  on  the  season  of  the 
year  and  the  consequent  change  of  direction  and  force  of  the 
trade-winds.  By  far  the  larger  volume  pursues  its  way  along 
the  northern  coast  of  South  America  and  sweeps  in  great  part 
through  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  is  finally  known  as  the  Gulf 
Stream  from  Cape  Florida  as  far  north  and  east  as  the  Banks  of 
Newfoundland,  although  its  continuous  onflow  reaches  the  west- 
ern shores  of  Europe,  and  then  trends  south. 

The  strength  of  the  current  where  the  Saranac  crossed  it  was 
about  three  miles  per  hour,  and  the  width  of  the  stream  was 
probably  one  hundred  miles ;  wo  had  no  means  of  ascertaining 
its  depth,  which  has  since  been  done  at  various  points  with  a 
fair  degree  of  accuracy.  We  escaped  its  force  by  getting  well 
in  with  the  land  and  following  the  coast-indentations  as  far  as 
outlying  shoals  would  allow.  A  fine  young  engineer,  in  order 
to  be  more  comfortable,  was  imprudent  enough  to  leave  his  state- 
room and  lie  under  a  windsail  in  the  wardroom  where  the  breeze 
was  quite  fresh  and  loaded  with  a  good  deal  of  vapor.  This 
resulted  in  what  is  known  as  a  "galloping  consumption;"  a 
month  later  he  was  sent  from  Rio  Janeiro  invalided,  and  barely 
reached  home  to  die.  Such  cases  are  supposed  by  many  persons 
to  be  climatic,  whereas  they  result  simply  from  lack  of  knowl- 
edge and  imprudent  exposure. 

We  reached  Pernambuco  on  the  3d  of  January,  1858,  and 
for  some  days  loitered  at  anchor  outside  of  the  natural  mole  of 
coral,  mentioned  previously  in  the  account  of  my  visit  when  on 
board  of  the  Water- Witch.  The  water  here  could  no  doubt  be 
deepened  by  the  use  of  modern  explosives,  at  small  cost  and 
with  great  benefit. 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE   VOYAGE.  295 

We  arrived  at  Rio  on  the  15th  of  January,  and  found  yellow 
fever  of  a  fatal  type  prevalent  there.  As  previously  intimated, 
our  executive  was  not  facile ;  we  spent  some  days  in  making 
arrangements  for  coaling,  but,  when  we  did  begin,  Lieutenant 
Harris,  a  very  energetic  and  excellent  young  officer,  and  myself, 
took  charge  of  the  operation  and  got  the  coal  on  board  very 
rapidly,  the  men  working  admirably  in  order  to  enable  us  to  get 
away,  which  we  did  after  being  eight  days  in  port  without  con- 
tracting the  fever.  It  was  near  sunset  when  we  left ;  passing 
out  close  to  Fort  Santa  Cruz  on  the  port  hand,  from  which  a  reef 
extends  a  short  distance,  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  deck,  wish- 
ing to  go  to  starboard,  which  means  to  the  right,  said,  "Star- 
board" to  the  helmsman,  which  means  "  starboarding  the  helm." 
The  result  of  this  order  was  to  throw  the  head  of  the  vessel  to 
the  left,  and  directly  towards  a  reef  over  which  the  water  was 
breaking  heavily.  The  officer  was  either  unmindful  of  the 
swing  of  the  vessel  or  not  able  to  comprehend  it.  We  were 
quite  close  to  the  breakers,  and  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  I  was 
then  officer  of  the  forecastle,  and,  seeing  that  without  prompt 
action  the  vessel  would  inevitably  be  lost,  sung  out,  "  Hard-a- 
port  the  helm."  The  helmsman  at  once  answered  by  a  loud 
repetition  of  the  order,  and  an  immediate  compliance  in  porting 
the  helm,  which  barely  saved  us  from  going  on  the  reef.  After 
we  had  cleared  it,  I  ordered  the  helm  "  a-starboard,"  and  the 
vessel  was  put  on  her  course  towards  Raza  Island,  some  ten 
miles  seaward.  No  conversation  subsequently  passed  between 
myself  and  the  officer  who  had  charge  of  the  deck  at  that  time 
in  reference  to  this  occurrence. 

We  pursued  our  way  with  excellent  weather  and  entered  the 
Straits  of  Magellan  on  the  morning  of  February  5.  The 
entrance  is  quite  wide,  but,  by  reason  of  shoals  and  strong 
currents  and  the  absence  of  reliable  landmarks,  is  not  free  from 
danger.  After  narrowing  considerably,  which  it  does  thirty 
miles  beyond,  no  dangers  are  encountered  until  reaching  Eliza- 
beth Island,  a  hundred  or  more  miles  from  the  entrance.  With 
the  exception  of  two  narrows  which  appear  little  more  than  a 
mile  wide,  some  of  the  bluffs  near  them  on  the  Terra  del  Fuego 
side  stretching  to  the  water-line,  there  is  nothing  of  interest 


296         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

along  this  part  of  the  Straits  save  the  great  strength  of  the 
currents  in  the  narrows  at  certain  stages  of  the  tides.  On  one 
of  the  bluffs  we  saw,  a  mile  away,  a  flock  of  guanacos,  beautiful 
little  animals  closely  resembling  the  antelope  in  appearance  and 
size.  They  are  destitute  of  antlers,  and  have  long  white  hair 
on  the  belly,  and  a  beautiful  fur  under  their  soft  hair. 

It  was  near  sunset  when  we  anchored  at  Elizabeth  Island  in 
order  to  sound  out  a  passage  near  kelp  floating  on  the  surface 
and  growing  on  the  rocks  in  five  fathoms  of  water.  I  obtained 
a  boat  and  crew,  and,  accompanied  by  Dozier,  the  navigator  of 
the  vessel,  was  soon  on  shore.  The  land  rose  in  a  succession  of 
long  easy  slopes,  so  easy,  in  fact,  that  when  we  had  walked  a 
half-mile  or  more  and  looked  back  we  found  ourselves  hundreds 
of  feet  above  the  Saranac,  almost  without  suspecting  it.  There 
were  some  stunted  trees  in  a  depression  in  advance  of  us,  and 
just  outside  of  the  little  clump  stood  a  fine  deer,  utterly  un- 
conscious that  unmounted  men  could  be  an  object  of  danger. 
We  fired  together  at  the  word,  and  the  deer  fell  in  his  tracks ; 
we  found  on  examination  that  either  shot  would  have  been  fatal. 
We  disembowelled  the  animal,  used  our  handkerchiefs  to  tie  up 
the  forefeet,  and  commenced  our  haul  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds'  weight ;  luckily  it  was  down-hill,  and  as  soon  as  our 
boat's  crew  saw  us  they  came  to  our  assistance. 

The  Patagonians  always  hunt  deer  mounted  and  use  what  is 
known  as  the  "  bolas,"  an  implement  consisting  of  three  thongs 
of  raw  hide,  each  about  a  yard  in  length,  tied  together  at  one 
end;  at  the  other  end  of  each  thong  is  a  small  ball,  two  of 
the  balls  being  of  wood  and  the  other  of  lead.  When  used, 
the  thongs  holding  the  two  wooden  balls  are  held  in  the  hand, 
and  the  leaden  ball  swung  around  the  head,  the  rider  going  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  let  fly  at  a  favorable  opportunity. 
They  are  thrown  with  great  dexterity,  often  to  a  distance  of 
sixty  yards.  If  successful  the  thongs  wind  around  the  hind 
legs  of  the  animal  and  tie  them  together,  or  around  one  leg, 
embarrassing  his  movements  greatly.  Cattle  as  well  as  deer 
are  brought  to  a  halt  in  this  manner ;  and  the  legs  of  deer  and 
guanacos  are  often  broken  by  the  violence  of  the  blow  from  the 
lead  ball.     The  general  appearance  of  the  deer  killed  was  sim- 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE  VOYAGE.  297 

ilar  to  that  of  our  own  deer,  except  that  the  hair  was  several 
inches  long,  probably  due  to  the  continuous  moisture  and  to  the 
coldness  of  the  atmosphere. 

In  the  morning,  after  sounding  out  the  channel,  the  Saranac 
left  for  Sandy  Point,  where  we  arrived  in  two  hours,  and 
anchored.  It  was  then  a  new  settlement,  established  by  the 
government  of  Chili  some  years  before.  The  houses  were  of 
frame,  not  at  all  of  the  style  usual  in  Spanish  America ;  there 
was  a  small  garrison  of  soldiers,  and  perhaps  a  dozen  families 
other  than  those  connected  with  the  Chilian  government.  The 
question  whether  potatoes  would  grow  or  not  was  then  de- 
bated; lettuce  and  some  other  vegetables  had  been  planted 
successfully. 

A  coal-seam  was  known  twelve  miles  distant,  the  greater  part 
of  the  distance  lying  along  the  bed  of  a  rocky  mountain-stream. 
I  found  a  Chilian  vaquero,  a  person  corresponding  to  our  "  cow- 
boy," who  was  willing  to  get  a  companion  and  myself  horses 
and  to  serve  as  guide  to  visit  it.  We  set  out  about  nine  a.m., 
and  traversed  an  undulating  plain  for  a  mile  or  so,  then  entered 
a  sheltered  valley  heavily  covered  with  a  large  growth  of  timber, 
which  the  guide  called  roble,  or  oak,  but  altogether  unlike  our 
oak  in  appearance.  Many  of  the  fallen  trunks  were  four  feet 
in  diameter,  and  there  were  many  dead  trunks  of  a  tall  slender 
tree  that  had  the  appearance  of  pine  or  cedar,  but  I  saw  none 
that  were  alive.  The  broad  bottom  of  land  was  the  wash  from 
the  ravine  which  we  soon  entered.  What  surprised  me  greatly 
was  the  sight  of  thousands  of  parrots,  such  as  are  found  in  the 
Argentine  Confederation,  that  come  to  nest  in  this  cool  region. 
They  appeared  to  be  almost  the  only  wood  birds  of  that  region. 
Of  course  a  little  later  in  the  season  they  migrate  to  their  usual 
habitat,  which  extends  as  far  northward  as  Corrientes,  high  up 
on  the  Paraguay  River.  These  parrots  are  not  endowed  with 
the  faculty  of  speech  save  in  their  own  language,  and  are  sup- 
posed to  be  cave-dwellers  in  the  cliffs  along  the  Paraguay  River 
and  elsewhere. 

In  going  up  the  ravine  some  eight  miles,  we  crossed  its  rocky 
bed  fifty  times.  Here  and  there  we  would  leave  the  bed  and 
clamber  over  rocks  across   points.     The  weather  was  cloudy, 


298         THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

with  occasional  light  showers,  as  is  usual  in  that  region.  We 
saw  small  lumps  of  coal  lying  in  the  bed  of  the  stream,  and 
when  we  reached  the  deposit  known  to  our  guide  we  found  a 
seam  not  more  than  fifteen  inches  in  thickness,  with  very  little 
exposed  surface,  and  situated  a  few  feet  above  the  bed  of  the 
stream.  The  vaquero  had  brought  his  dogs,  and  we  our  guns, 
as  we  had  been  promised  a  chance  of  shooting  a  deer ;  this  would 
have  been  more  probable  had  we  left  the  dogs  at  home. 

The  coal-seam  is  probably  about  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea ;  from  this  point  we  found  our  way  up  the  mountain- 
side several  hundred  feet ;  the  tree-vegetation  was  small,  but  the 
ground  was  covered  with  succulent  shrubs  and  weeds,  which  we 
were  told  remained  almost  unfrozen  and  green  the  winter 
through,  under  a  depth  of  several  feet  of  snow,  furnishing  an 
abundant  food-supply  for  deer  and  guanacos.  When  we  came 
down  we  followed  the  spur  of  a  mountain  at  places  so  steep 
that  the  horses  sat  upon  their  haunches  and  dragged  themselves 
down  with  their  forefeet, — my  first  and  only  experience  of  such 
a  manoeuvre.  I  would  not  have  dared  to  attempt  the  descent 
had  not  the  vaquero  taken  the  lead  ;  he  was  said  to  be  one  of 
the  best  riders  in  Chili. 

Although  the  latitude  of  Sandy  Point  is  about  53°  south, 
and  that  of  Cape  Horn  three  degrees  farther  south,  Terra  del 
Fuego  and  Southern  Patagonia  are  so  narrow  and  limited  in 
area  that  there  is  little  accumulation  of  cold,  and  the  huge  vol- 
canic masses  covered  with  ice  and  snow  serve  to  condense  the 
vapor  almost  constantly  and  thus  raise  the  temperature. 

After  lying  two  days  at  anchor,  we  left  Sandy  Point,  and, 
after  a  run  of  fifteen  miles,  passed  Port  Famine,  well  known  to 
the  ordinary  reader ;  the  locality  seemed  to  have  a  fair  amount 
of  shelter,  and  wood  in  abundance,  a  thing  quite  unusual  on  the 
shores  of  the  Straits,  and  the  hills,  or  rather  mountains,  had  an 
abrupt  look.  Not  until  Cape  Froward  is  passed,  twenty  miles 
from  Sandy  Point,  does  the  desolate  grandeur  of  the  Straits 
present  itself,  much  added  to  in  scenic  effect  by  an  almost  con- 
stant gale,  lashing  the  waters  into  a  battering  sea  and  fiercely- 
rolling  white-caps. 

At  Cape  Froward  there  is  a  bend  of  the  Straits,  and  when 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE    VOYAGE.  299 

quite  near  the  base  of  its  perpendicular  cliffs,  several  thousand 
feet  in  height  on  the  western  face,  the  whole  scene  is  presented 
as  suddenly  as  the  stage  in  a  theatre  on  the  rising  of  the  drop- 
curtain.  So  fierce  are  the  winds  and  the  driving  sleet  against 
that  face  of  the  cape  that  nothing  is  seen  but  barren  rocks, 
seamed  and  scored  by  dashing  mountain-torrents,  white  with 
spray,  stretching  from  the  water's  edge  to  a  height  painful  to 
look  at  when  a  vessel  passes  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  the 
base. 

Across  the  Straits,  on  the  Terra  del  Fuego  side,  there  was 
great  obscurity,  and  rising  out  of  many  lofty  peaks  were  columns 
of  black  smoke,  spreading  out  into  a  dark  canopy  thousands  of 
feet  above  the  peaks.  On  the  Patagonian  side,  looking  to  sea- 
ward, were  indentations  between  lofty  mountains  covered  far 
down  their  sides  with  snow  and  glaciers,  as  disclosed  by  the 
green  beds  of  ice  and  the  white  spray  of  the  waters  rushing  down 
the  mountain-sides. 

Far  away  over  the  land,  at  a  height  of  thousands  of  feet,  the 
atmosphere  was  actually  undisturbed,  as  could  be  seen  by  the 
columns  of  volcanic  smoke.  Over  the  waters,  driving  in  from 
the  ocean  between  shores  barely  visible,  were  fierce  squalls,  with 
rain  and  sleet,  known  as  "  willy- waughs,"  that  whistle  as  fiercely 
as  winds  can.  The  desolate  poetic  grandeur  of  land  and  sea, 
from  Cape  Froward  to  Cape  Pillar,  a  distance  of  ninety  miles, 
is  beyond  anything  that  I  have  seen  on  the  coast  of  Labrador 
or  elsewhere. 

The  force  of  the  wind  and  the  sea  was  so  great  that  after  a 
few  hours'  struggle  with  them  we  hauled  in  to  the  right  shore, 
sheltered  by  a  headland,  and  anchored  in  what  is  known  to  navi- 
gators as  Wood's  Cove,  from  which  we  looked  with  interest  and 
composure  at  the  elemental  strife  that  continued  to  rage  within 
a  few  hundred  yards  of  our  anchorage.  We  were  quite  comfort- 
able during  the  night,  and  the  next  morning  got  under  way  and 
stood  out  j  the  wind  was  soon  piping  through  our  rigging ;  we 
tugged  away  under  high  steam  until  the  sun  was  low,  making 
less  than  two  miles  per  hour.  The  nervous  lieutenant  asked  me 
what  I  thought  of  going  into  Cordova  Bay  for  the  night ;  I 
replied  that  we  might  do  so  without  disadvantage.     Away  he 


300  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

went  to  the  executive  officer  to  bring  it  about,  and  soon  after, 
with  the  wind  and  sea  abeam,  we  were  approaching  a  bay  rarely 
visited.  It  was  described  by  Admiral  Byron  of  the  British 
navy  a  century  ago.  After  getting  into  smooth  water,  being  in 
charge  of  the  deck,  I  pointed  out  to  the  executive  officer  some 
shelving  ground  farther  up,  as  offering  an  indication  of  a  prob- 
able anchoring-ground  near  by.  The  marine  officer  suggested 
entering  a  little  passage-way  on  our  left  between  high  mountains 
seemingly  hardly  one  hundred  yards  apart.  His  suggestion  was 
adopted,  perhaps  because  he  was  a  marine  officer.  After  getting 
into  a  very  small  basin,  no  bottom  could  be  found  with  a  line  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  fathoms  ;  beyond  was  another  opening, 
somewhat  wider ;  passing  in,  we  found  ourselves  in  a  circular 
basin  some  two  miles  in  diameter,  with  no  bottom  at  a  depth  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  fathoms.  The  water  was  smooth,  but 
the  wind  blew  furiously  in  squalls  over  the  mountains,  which 
were  several  thousand  feet  in  height.  The  executive  officer 
was  greatly  perplexed,  and  told  me  he  thought  of  "  placing  two 
lights  on  shore  and  steering  for  them."  I  replied  that  I  did 
not  know  how  he  would  do  that ;  it  seemed  to  me  preferable  to 
take  a  kedge  and  hawser  to  the  weather  shore,  plant  the  kedge 
in  the  rocks  and  bring  the  hawser  off  as  a  "  guess  warp"  by 
which  the  vessel  could  ride  at  anchor  during  the  night.  He  said 
it  would  take  all  night  to  effect  this ;  I  replied  that  if  he  would 
give  me  charge  of  the  vessel  I  would  do  it  in  an  hour.  He 
assented.  I  called  Lieutenant  Harris  to  take  charge  of  the  deck, 
lowered  the  cutter,  passed  in  a  kedge,  and  was  passing  in  a  hawser, 
when  the  fussy  man  appeared  and  told  us  to  hold  on  in  the  boat, 
he  intended  to  back  the  vessel.  I  asked  him  to  be  good  enough 
to  leave  the  vessel  in  charge  of  Lieutenant  Harris,  as  otherwise 
I  could  not  fulfil  my  promise.  I  had  instructed  Harris  to  keep 
watch  on  my  boat,  and,  when  he  saw  me  pulling  out,  to  steam 
in  slowly,  and  avoid  running  us  down,  as  the  executive  officer 
would  probably  have  done  had  he  been  in  charge  of  the  deck. 
In  a  few  minutes  I  reached  the  shore,  planted  the  kedge  in  a 
cleft  of  the  rocks,  and  pulled  out  where  Harris  brought  the 
Saranac  and  took  the  hawser  on  board.  It  was  then  twilight ; 
the  days  were  quite  long  in  that  high  latitude  and  twilight  lasted 


INCIDENTS   OF  THE    VOYAGE.  301 

until  ten  o'clock.  As  I  stepped  over  the  gangway  the  executive 
officer  was  there ;  and  the  man  at  the  lead  reported  seventeen 
fathoms  of  water.  I  said,  "  Now,  sir,  you  can  let  go  an  anchor." 
"No,  sir,"  said  he ;  "were  I  to  do  so,  if  the  vessel  should  tail  in 
she  would  go  on  shore."  I  made  no  reply  to  this  hopelessly 
inapt  man.  The  vessel  was  actually  lying  at  the  end  of  a  hawser 
more  than  six  hundred  feet  long,  and  had  the  wind  set  on  shore 
she  would  have  swung  to  the  anchor  had  that  been  let  go,  her 
length  being  less  than  one-third  the  hawser's  :  a  few  revolutions 
of  the  engine  would  have  dragged  the  anchor  into  deep  water 
off  the  ledge,  and  we  should  have  been  entirely  free  from  the 
shore. 

We  rode  by  the  hawser  until  about  noon  the  next  day,  when 
the  continued  swinging  of  the  vessel  over  a  large  arc  had 
worked  the  kedge  out  of  the  cleft  in  the  rock,  and  we  found 
ourselves  drifting  away  from  the  shore.  The  hawser  was  hove 
in  and  the  kedge  planted  as  before,  but  it  was  nightfall  before 
this  was  effected.  We  lay  for  another  twenty-four  hours  in  like 
manner. 

During  our  stay  I  got  a  boat  and  crew  and  visited  the  beach. 
There  were  numbers  of  small  black  muscles  growing  on  the 
rocks,  like  those  found  at  the  Delaware  Breakwater  :  these  made 
a  very  acceptable  dish.  We  found  several  very  small  pearls  in 
them  after  they  were  cooked.  We  caught  also  many  rock  cod- 
fish of  a  pound  or  so  in  weight,  resembling  those  caught  off  the 
New  England  coast,  and  quite  as  delicious.  In  the  precipitous 
rocky  ravines  worn  by  the  falling  waters  were  some  beautiful 
flowers  and  an  exuberant  vegetation,  but  wherever  the  winds 
had  full  sweep  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  barren  rocks. 
Doubtless  in  sheltered  places  in  the  interior  guanacos  and  deer 
would  have  been  found,  but  the  extreme  roughness  of  the  country 
forbade  the  attempt  to  explore.  It  is  well  known  that  the  in- 
habitants of  Terra  del  Fuego  live  almost  wholly  on  shell-fish 
and  other  fish  and  the  eggs  of  birds.  Although  these  animals 
abound,  they  make  no  attempt  to  kill  them.  We  saw  only  one 
canoe  in  the  Straits,  and  the  two  persons  in  it  avoided  us. 

In  the  evening  the  captain  sent  for  me ;  his  injury  at  Barba- 
dos six  weeks  before  had  confined  him  to  the  cabin  ever  since. 


302  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

He  asked  if  I  thought  the  vessel  in  danger ;  I  replied  no,  but 
that  she  would  ride  much  better  if  an  anchor  were  let  go ;  should 
a  change  of  wind  then  occur  she  would  tail  in  and  be  pointed 
fair,  and  a  few  turns  of  the  engine  would  drag  the  anchor  off 
the  ledge  into  deep  water ;  besides,  it  would  prevent  the  vessel 
from  swinging  on  a  great  arc  at  the  end  of  more  than  one  hundred 
fathoms  of  line,  and  thus  work  adrift  again,  as  she  had  done 
before.  A  heavy  squall  at  that  instant  struck  the  vessel,  and 
we  felt  the  shock  and  heard  the  noise  of  the  chain  running  out 
of  the  hawse-hole.  I  added  that  all  had  been  done  by  letting 
go  the  anchor  that  could  be  to  insure  the  vessel  against  accident; 
he  might  rest  entirely  content.  On  getting  on  deck  I  found  that 
the  nervous  lieutenant  had  let  go  an  anchor,  to  prevent  the  vessel, 
as  lie  said,  from  parting  the  hawser. 

The  heavy  squalls  came  at  intervals,  with  great  force,  the  same 
as  when  we  had  entered ;  the  clouds  swirled  over  the  almost 
perpendicular  mountain-tops  near  the  bases  of  which  we  lay,  and 
the  Scotch  mist  fell  incessantly. 

When  tied  up  to  the  weather  shore,  our  fires  were  banked, 
and,  by  spreading  them,  in  a  few  minutes  we  would  be  able  to 
control  the  vessel  under  steam  in  smooth  water.  Early  in  the 
morning  of  the  third  or  fourth  day,  in  a  heavy  squall,  the  vessel 
dragged  the  kedge  and  anchor,  and  we  drifted  from  the  shore ; 
the  awnings  were  furled,  hawser  and  cable  hove  in,  and  we 
steamed  out  through  the  passage  we  had  entered.  Keeping  in 
to  the  left  shore,  we  made  more  progress  in  the  sea  reach  than 
we  had  done  before.  Late  in  the  afternoon  we  were  up  with 
Cape  Pillar ;  as  we  approached  the  cape  either  there  was  a  gen- 
eral or  a  local  change  in  the  weather ;  the  sun  came  out,  and 
after  reaching  the  open  waters  of  the  Pacific  the  wind  was  no 
longer  violent;  we  could  have  gone  northward  sheltered  for 
several  hundred  miles,  near  to  the  island  of  Chiloe,  within  an 
archipelago,  but  chose  to  go  outside  to  buffet  the  seas.  For 
three  days  we  had  fair  weather,  and  then  a  heavy  gale  nearly 
ahead.  The  wind  struck  us  on  the  port  bow  quite  suddenly,  and 
so  fiercely  that  only  after  hours  of  trial,  and  through  counter- 
bracing  the  after-yards,  were  we  able  to  get  the  wind  on  the  other 
bow,  so  that  the  drift  would  be  off  instead  of  on  shore.     In  the 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE   VOYAGE.  303 

heavy  sea  and  wind  we  cracked  the  cap  of  a  pillar-block  over 
the  shaft,  which  we  found  out  the  next  morning  and  secured  by 
a  stanchion  as  well  as  we  could.  We  arrived  at  Valparaiso  on 
the  20th  of  February,  with  very  little  coal  in  the  bunkers,  and 
were  glad  to  get  there. 

A  third  of  a  century  ago  Valparaiso  was  an  attractive,  busy 
little  town,  with  a  recently -completed  railroad  to  the  capital.  It 
had  received  a  great  impetus  from  the  gold-mining  in  California 
of  1850,  through  the  exportation  of  wheat  and  other  products  that 
were  sold  at  fabulous  prices.  The  native  inhabitants,  together 
with  many  foreigners  of  different  nationalities  many  of  whom 
married  Chilenas,  formed  a  very  agreeable,  intelligent  society. 

Approaching,  and  many  miles  from  the  coast  when  the  shore- 
line was  far  below  the  horizon,  we  saw  the  ranges  of  mountains 
rising  one  above  the  other  in  colossal  grandeur,  and  among  them 
the  giant  volcanic  peak  Aconcagua,  seemingly  at  no  great  dis- 
tance, but  actually  far  away.  The  town  at  that  time  was  almost 
entirely  below  a  line  of  cliffs  near  the  circular  beach  that  sur- 
rounded the  indentation,  for,  properly  speaking,  Valparaiso  had 
no  harbor ;  there  was  an  anchorage  in  uncomfortably  deep  water, 
quite  exposed  to  the  north,  whence  came  at  times  violent  gales 
that  strewed  the  beach  with  wrecks.  The  cliffs  that  lay  back 
of  the  city  were  known  to  sailors  as  the  Fore,  Main,  and  Mizzen 
tops,  where  they  are  supposed  to  have  had  high  old  times  aloft, 
in  years  that  have  passed,  some  of  the  sailors  tumbling  down 
the  precipices  after  night  with  fatal  or  serious  injuries. 

After  having  gained  the  tops  of  the  cliffs,  some  two  hundred 
feet  in  height,  the  ascent  into  the  interior  was  gradual,  but  steep 
withal,  with  here  and  there  a  small  neat  cottage  by  the  roadside ; 
in  a  mile  or  so  the  top  of  the  ridge  was  gained,  more  than 
one  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  These  mountain-ranges  were 
covered  with  bushes  and  shrubs,  almost  without  exception  resin- 
ous, and  many  of  them  aromatic.  At  some  distance  from  the 
summit  there  was  a  fork  in  the  road,  the  one  to  the  right  leading 
to  a  height  overhanging  the  quebrada,  corresponding  to  gulch  in 
English,  a  narrow  valley  lying  more  then  a  thousand  feet  below, 
with  the  slope  so  steep  that  once  started  downward  by  accident 
man  and  horse  would  not  bring  up  before  reaching  the  bottom. 


304  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

There  was  a  road  partly  cut  in  the  earth  on  the  side  of  the  hill, 
so  narrow  that  two  mules  laden  could  not  pass.  The  Saranac 
remained  at  anchor  in  the  roadstead  for  six  weeks,  during  which 
time  when  off  duty  I  rode  over  the  country  within  reasonable 
distances;  and  I  have  kindly  remembrances  of  the  charming 
people  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting. 

We  left  for  Coquimbo,  where  we  arrived  the  next  day.  At 
that  time  a  considerable  quantity  of  the  copper  of  commerce,  at 
a  price  about  four  times  its  present  market  value,  was  smelted  at 
this  locality.  Instead  of  mountains  there  were  hills,  not  covered 
with  trees,  but  pleasing  withal,  and  at  a  distance  of  some  miles 
were  vegas,  or  fertile  plains,  where  irrigated  alfalfa  grew  with 
great  luxuriance.  Although  our  stay  was  short,  it  was  long 
enough  for  us  to  have  two  earthquakes ;  they  occurred  almost 
twenty-four  hours  apart,  and  to  us  on  board  the  apparent  feeling 
was  as  if  the  vessel  were  being  hauled  over  a  sand-bar ;  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  how  an  earthquake  can  communicate  such 
a  sensation,  yet  the  same  has  been  observed  on  the  high  seas. 
When  the  first  one  occurred,  I  happened  to  be  on  deck,  and, 
looking  shoreward,  observed  a  number  of  laden  mules  standing 
near  the  copper  smelting-works.  As  soon  as  the  shock  occurred 
they  bolted  for  the  top  of  a  hillock  near  by,  and  did  not  stop 
until  they  reached  it.  There  was  no  disturbance  of  the  sea-level, 
which  on  another  occasion  since  that  time  destroyed  the  smelt- 
ing-works. The  air  and  sky  were  perfectly  charming.  There 
is  only  one  place  on  the  face  of  the  globe  where  these  conditions 
are  almost  perpetual,  the  intermissions  being  just  sufficient  to 
delude  the  inhabitants  into  a  sense  of  tolerable  security  and  make 
them  pay  a  heavy  penalty.  That  spot  is  Payta,  of  which  I  shall 
have  something  to  say. 

After  a  short  stay  we  left  for  the  Chincha  Islands,  situated 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  south  of  Callao  and  some  twenty 
miles  off  the  coast  of  Peru.  Probably  one-half  the  guano  de- 
posit had  been  removed  at  that  time,  and  a  very  large  number 
of  ships  were  then  engaged  in  carrying  it,  principally  to  Europe. 
There  is  a  heavy  swell  setting  in  almost  constantly  from  the 
southwest,  yet  perhaps  there  is  no  part  of  the  globe  so  rarely 
disturbed  by  heavy  weather  as  that  region.     Vessels  that  were 


SERVICE  ON  BOARD  THE  MERRIMAC.  305 

taking  cargoes  were  anchored  to  moorings  as  near  the  rocks 
as  possible,  and  by  means  of  chutes  projecting  over  the  cliffs 
were  loaded  with  great  despatch.  The  middle  island  was  half 
cut  away  when  we  were  there,  and  the  escarpment  was  nearly 
perpendicular  and  more  than  one  hundred  feet  in  depth.  The 
northern  face  was  yet  untouched,  and  was  quite  steep,  and  diffi- 
cult to  ascend  when  the  heavy  mists  of  the  night  had  wet  the 
surface.  Near  the  bottom  the  guano  had  been  so  compacted 
through  ages  of  time  that  when  the  pickaxes  struck  it  the  sound 
had  a  dull  metallic  ring.  Eggs  of  sea-fowl  and  carcasses  of  seal 
were  frequently  found  embedded  where  they  had  lain  for  cen- 
turies ;  walking  over  the  surface  of  that  part  which  was  still 
undisturbed  by  the  pickaxe  was  no  easy  matter,  the  feet  being 
embedded  several  inches,  and  every  short  distance,  on  stepping 
over  the  excavations  of  a  sea-fowl,  not  unlike  the  rock-pigeon 
in  appearance,  I  found  myself  more  than  knee-deep  in  loose 
guano  by  breaking  through  into  the  burrows  of  the  birds. 
After  a  visit  to  the  island  one  became  so  permeated  by  the  odor 
that  he  could  have  been  used  as  a  walking  advertisement  for 
our  fertilizing  industries. 

AVe  spent  several  days  most  agreeably  in  visiting  the  islands 
and  their  rocky  bases,  and  looking  for  shell-fish  of  curious 
shape  and  appearance,  then  left  for  Callao,  a  day's  run  to  the 
northward.  The  island  of  San  Lorenzo,  which  is  some  miles 
in  length  and  several  thousand  feet  in  height,  lies  six  miles 
from  Callao,  and  serves  to  break  in  a  great  degree  the  heavy 
swells  along  that  coast,  coming  as  they  do  over  thousands  of 
miles  of  unbroken  sea.  We  left  this  anchorage  almost  im- 
mediately  for  Panama,  where  we  arrived  six  days  later.  The 
steam  frigate  Merrimac  was  there,  and  I  was  ordered  to  her  to 
fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  sending  home  the  second  lieutenant. 
The  Merrimac  was  one  of  five  vessels  built  by  our  government 
a  few  years  before,  larger  and  with  a  better  armament  than  any 
vessels  of  that  time  of  a  frigate  build.  Her  enginery  and  that 
of  the  Roanoke,  of  which  I  had  personal  knowledge,  were  very 
indifferent,  yet  on  different  designs.  The  Minnesota,  of  which 
I  knew  something  during  our  civil  war,  had  probably  the  best 
machinery ;  the  models  differed  little  and  they  were  well-built 

20 


306  THE  OLD  NAVF  AND    THE  NEW. 

wooden  ships.  Their  batteries  were  composed  of  forward  and 
after  spar-deck  ten-inch  pivot-guns  and  broadside  nine-inch 
shell-guns,  and  were  very  effective  against  earthworks  at  even 
two  thousand  yards'  distance,  but  better  at  two-thirds  that  range. 
Not  one  of  such  guns  burst  during  our  entire  civil  war,  nor  did 
any  of  the  eleven-inch,  of  which  we  had  a  great  many  afloat. 
The  battery  of  the  Merrimac  received  a  great  deal  of  attention, 
and  was  as  effectively  served  as  perhaps  that  of  any  other  vessel. 
On  trial  at  the  island  of  San  Lorenzo,  the  after  pivot-gun  was 
fired,  then  loaded  and  fired  five  times  at  a  target  eight  hundred 
yards  distant,  planted  on  the  island.  The  time  was  three 
minutes  and  forty-seven  seconds,  hitting  a  ten-foot  target  three 
times  out  of  the  five,  and  the  other  two  barely  missing  it.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  the  long,  heavy  swell  caused  some  delay 
and  had  to  be  allowed  for,  this  was  certainly  a  very  extraordi- 
nary result,  and  showed  great  training  and  skill. 

A  week  after  I  joined  the  Merrimac  we  sailed  for  Tumbez, 
memorable  as  the  landing-place  of  Pizarro  when  he  reached 
Peru.  We  lay  some  distance  from  the  entrance  to  the  river, 
which  has  only  a  few  feet  of  water  on  the  bar ;  there  was  a 
long  swell,  but  as  it  came  in  deflected  it  did  not  break  violently, 
as  is  usually  the  case  in  shoal  water.  The  bar  had  great  num- 
bers of  sharks  upon  it,  waiting  doubtless  for  something  to  turn 
up.  They  would  swim  along  not  far  from  our  boats,  with  their 
triangular  dorsal  fins  partly  out  of  the  water ;  and  here  and  there 
a  huge  alligator  would  raise  his  head  above  the  surface  of  the 
water.  It  would  have  been  an  unfortunate  place  to  be  upset, 
as  there  would  have  been  lively  competition  between  the  sharks 
and  the  alligators  in  picking  up  the  people.  There  was  a  con- 
siderable primitive  town  some  fifteen  miles  up  the  river ;  but 
my  visit  extended  only  half  that  distance  :  on  the  sandy  banks 
of  the  river  there  were  hundreds  of  alligators  of  enormous  size, 
which  when  we  first  passed  along  were  indifferent  to  our  presence. 
A  number  were  shot  and  either  killed  or  wounded,  but  without 
exception  they  got  into  the  water.  Our  boats  had  passed  along 
only  a  few  times  subjecting  them  to  this  experience,  when  they 
took  in  the  whole  situation,  and  were  no  longer  to  be  seen  on 
the  beach ;  hearing  the  noise  of  the  oars  in  the  rowlocks  they 


PAYTA.  307 

got  into  the  water  and  looked  at  us  with  comparative  safety. 
Any  one  who  has  seen  the  eye  and  the  nostril  of  a  large  alli- 
gator when  he  rises  to  the  surface  to  make  an  observation  will 
not  be  likely  to  mistake  him  for  another  object. 

The  banks  of  the  river  were  low,  and  covered  with  trees  of 
fair  size,  upon  which  we  saw  many  nests  of  the  frigate-bird, 
trim-looking  and  black.  I  had  never  before  seen  them  anywhere 
than  on  the  ocean,  far  away  from  land.  The  tail-feathers  are 
long,  and  end  in  a  point  like  a  marline-spike. 

After  a  very  short  anchorage  off  Tumbez,  we  left  for  Payta, 
and  after  a  voyage  of  four  days  anchored  in  a  bight  half  a  mile 
from  a  narrow  sand-beach  with  perpendicular  bluffs  two  hundred 
feet  in  height  close  behind,  and  extending  along  the  beach  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach.  This  steep  unbroken  bluff  is  the  edge  of 
a  great  plateau  extending  along  the  coast  and  far  inland,  rising 
gradually  from  the  coast,  where  the  outlines  of  distant  mountain- 
ranges  are  visible.  Fifteen  miles  to  the  northward  is  the  mouth 
of  a  considerable  stream  that  comes  from  the  mountains  in  the 
interior.  The  water  is  used  to  some  extent  in  irrigating  broad 
fertile  lowlands  on  the  borders  of  the  stream,  known  as  vegas. 
The  water-supply  of  Payta  was  brought  on  donkeys  from  this 
stream,  carried  in  kegs  or  calabashes  lashed  to  a  light  framework 
placed  on  the  backs  of  the  animals.  They  went  in  caravans  of 
twenty  or  more,  guided  usually  by  two  persons.  When  the  sun 
heats  the  sandy  plain  traversed  by  these  caravans,  extraordinary 
mirages  are  presented ;  great  fantastic  monsters,  ill  defined  and 
constantly  varying  in  outline,  appear  to  be  moving  rapidly  along  ; 
on  a  nearer  approach,  in  a  moment  the  phantom  dissipates,  and 
at  a  distance  of  one  or  two  hundred  yards  will  be  seen  a  number 
of  donkeys  with  their  drivers. 

The  Payta  of  that  day  consisted  of  some  two  hundred  bam- 
boo houses  built  on  the  sea-beach  beneath  the  cliff  of  sand.  The 
houses  were  covered  with  light  mats,  serving  as  a  shelter  from 
the  sun  during  the  day,  and  from  the  Scotch  mists  that  come 
nightly.  Rains  visit  this  region  only  at  intervals  of  years,  but 
when  they  do  come  they  are  often  very  heavy  and  do  an  immense 
amount  of  damage,  as  noted  by  the  newspapers  a  few  years  ago. 
On  the  plateau  no  animal  life  is  seen  other  than  a  small,  dirty- 


308  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

looking  lizard,  which  is  not  abundant,  nor  is  there  any  vegetable 
life  save  a  small  prickly  plant  which  would  scarcely  be  noticed 
unless  sought,  and  which  has  to  be  looked  at  closely  to  be 
recognized  as  a  living  organism.  The  charm  of  Payta  is  in 
the  climate,  which  is  the  most  delightful  that  I  have  found  the 
world  over.  There  is  no  approach  to  its  perfection  elsewhere. 
The  visitor  sails  into  the  anchorage  at  noonday  with  a  moderate 
sea-breeze,  and  the  vessel  anchors  in  the  clear  blue  water  half  a 
mile  from  the  shore-line ;  light  fleecy  clouds  float  in  the  air,  and 
the  temperature  is  delightful ;  as  the  day  advances,  the  breeze 
freshens,  and  light  caps  crest  the  waves ;  as  the  evening  comes 
on  and  the  sun  sinks  below  the  horizon,  the  breeze  dies  away 
into  a  zephyr  and  the  stars  come  out  one  by  one  in  the  quiet 
sky  ;  mists  begin  to  gather,  and  soon  after  midnight  the  stars  are 
hidden  ;  then  as  morning  approaches  the  clouds  assume  a  threat- 
ening appearance ;  the  sun  rises  with  an  appearance  of  a  rainy, 
disagreeable  day ;  when  it  is  well  above  the  horizon  it  peeps  out 
between  the  clefts  in  the  clouds,  and  soon  after  they  vanish  or 
float  away,  giving  sunshine  and  shadow  over  the  waters  and  the 
land  in  rare  perfection  ;  the  breeze  comes  in  again  from  the  sea 
and  a  day  follows  as  bright  as  the  one  that  preceded ;  and  so  it 
is,  week  after  week  and  month  after  month,  until,  after  a  long 
interval,  down  comes  the  rain  in  torrents  for  a  few  hours,  destroy- 
ing everything  in  the  houses,  and  then  again  the  sunshine  in  all 
its  glory,  undisturbed  by  the  changes  of  temperature  that  give 
the  sensation  of  disagreeable  heat  or  cold.  Of  course  back  on 
the  plains  it  is  disagreeably  hot  after  the  sun  is  well  up,  and  it 
remains  so  until  the  sun  goes  down.  But  the  climate  is  the  only 
enjoyable  feature  of  Payta.  Among  the  many  disagreeables  are 
the  fleas,  which  hold  high  revel  night  and  day. 

We  left  on  the  11th  of  July,  and  after  the  engines  had  banged, 
as  they  always  did,  for  six  mortal  days,  we  anchored  off  the 
island  of  San  Lorenzo,  several  miles  outside  the  usual  anchorage 
of  Callao,  for  target-practice,  of  which  I  have  already  made 
mention.  It  was  very  gratifying  to  me,  as  this  was  the  first 
vessel  to  which  I  had  been  attached  where  target-practice  was 
satisfactorily  carried  out.  In  a  few  days  we  shifted  our  anchor- 
age near  to  Callao,  and  were  able  to  visit  that  city  and  Lima, 


CALLAO.  309 

the  latter  seven  miles  distant  by  railroad  ;  seen  from  the  anchor- 
age over  an  inclined  plane,  it  was  quite  picturesque.  In  the 
background  were  parallel  mountain-ranges,  those  in  the  interior 
rising  one  above  the  other  until  the  third  or  fourth  range  was 
lost  in  the  distance :  they  are  without  verdure,  and  have  not  the 
fantastic  forms  that  enchant  the  eye  on  approaching  the  coast  of 
Brazil.  When  on  duty  on  board,  I  watched  the  large  sea-birds 
with  great  interest  near  the  vessel ;  they  would  dive  in  platoons 
of  fifty  or  a  hundred  and  strike  the  water  with  the  sound  of  a 
volley  of  musketry,  quite  dumfounding  the  fish,  and,  having 
seized  their  prey  far  below  the  surface,  would  reappear  and 
bear  it  away.  Other  platoons  would  follow  in  quick  succes- 
sion, for  hours  at  a  time,  until  the  birds  were  satisfied  with  their 
catch. 

Looking  at  the  senoritas  in  Lima  as  they  gracefully  walked 
along  the  streets  in  the  evening,  clothed  in  the  saya  y  manta, 
with  one  bright  eye  peering  out,  was  a  joy  in  itself.  A  little 
later  in  life  they  are  less  attractive,  from  the  fact  that  the  climate 
is  so  damp  that  the  functions  of  the  skin  are  not  active,  which 
gives  the  liver  too  much  work,  and  they  do  not  stimulate  it  by 
exercise,  as  they  should  do  to  keep  healthy.  Before  the  railroad 
was  built,  they  were  in  the  habit  of  backing  horses  astride  and 
riding  to  Callao  or  elsewhere,  and  it  was  a  joke  with  them  to 
ride  along  at  a  good  round  pace,  and,  putting  their  foot  under 
that  of  some  young  incautious  middie,  with  the  rise  of  the  horse 
throw  him  out  of  the  saddle  or  dismount  him.  They  no  longer 
pay  these  attentions  to  their  visitors,  however. 

Beneath  the  cathedral,  in  a  vault,  clothed  in  a  gown  of  black 
silk,  were  the  mortal  remains  of  that  extraordinary  man,  Pizarro, 
shown  to  visitors  by  persons  in  charge ;  one  of  our  officers  went 
into  the  vault,  and,  bribing  the  attendant,  tore  a  part  of  the 
gown  and  robbed  the  body  of  a  toe.  I  tried  in  vain  to  establish 
in  the  mind  of  that  man  a  feeling  of  shame  for  the  commission 
of  this  act.  I  have  to  add,  in  justice  to  officers  educated  in  the 
service,  that  he  was  a  medical  officer,  who,  soon  after  reaching 
the  United  States,  Avent  where  he  belonged. 

In  his  personal  narrative  Humboldt  remarks  how  deceptive 
is  the  eye  as  regards  levels ;  he  had  ascended  six  hundred  feet 


310         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE   NEW. 

in  going  from  Callao  to  Lima  in  a  distance  of  about  seven  miles 
without  being  conscious  of  making  an  ascent. 

At  the  time  of  our  visit,  Mr.  Randolph  Clay  was  our  minister 
to  Peru  ;  he  and  his  charming  Scotch  wife  were  very  hospitable. 
At  their  house  were  frequent  assemblies  of  persons  of  note,  native 
and  foreign.  At  one  of  these  receptions  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  the  Chevalier  de  Schurzer,  an  Austrian  scientist  who 
had  been  the  head  of  an  Austrian  scientific  expedition  around 
the  world  on  board  of  the  frigate  Astrolabe,  then  on  her  voyage 
home.  He  was  good  enough  to  invite  me  to  accompany  him 
on  a  visit  to  the  ruins  of  Pachacamac,  twenty-live  miles  from 
Lima,  on  the  sea-beach  to  the  southward.  We  went  on  horse- 
back, accompanied  by  a  guide,  and  had  the  hospitality  of  a 
country-house  on  a  large  sugar-estate  known  as  Lurin,  whose 
owner  was  absent,  and  spent  two  days  in  the  vicinity. 

Before  I  left  the  United  States,  the  editor  of  the  Democratic 
Review  had  asked  me  to  write  a  paper  for  his  magazine.  In 
fulfilment  of  my  promise  I  wrote  of  this  visit ;  and  I  will  here 
give  an  extract  from  the  fourth  number,  published  in  1860. 
The  article  is  entitled  "  A  Visit  to  the  Ruins  of  Pachacamac." 

"  We  rode  for  hours  over  rolling  sandy  plains,  passing  num- 
bers of  huacos  (burial-places  of  long  ago).  They  are  consider- 
able hillocks,  without  vegetation,  and  beneath  their  surface  are 
found  numbers  of  human  bodies,  porcelain,  and  other  relics  of 
the  past.  At  length  there  was  a  curve  in  the  road,  which 
brought  in  sight  a  few  green  trees,  and  soon  afterwards  the 
eminence  upon  which  are  the  ruins  of  Pachacamac,  i  which'  [a 
historian  says]  '  was  the  only  one  in  all  the  country  dedicated  to 
the  Supreme  Being,  and  for  this  reason  it  was  visited  by  pil- 
grims from  the  most  remote  regions  to  present  their  offerings 
and  to  adore  the  Deity.'  As  we  neared  the  trees,  a  few  miser- 
able thatched  huts  became  visible ;  dirty,  long-haired,  and  almost 
naked  children  peeped  curiously  out  to  see  the  strangers,  whose 
arrival  was  announced  by  the  general  barking  of  all  the  dogs. 
Finally,  the  full-grown  bipeds,  male  and  female,  came  lazily 
out  to  gratify  their  curiosity.  We  had  no  reason  to  think,  from 
their  appearance,  that  the  centuries  of  intercourse  with  civilized 
races,  and  their  Christianity,  had  exalted  them  mentally,  morally, 


GATHERING  SKULLS.  31 1 

or  physically  above  their  possible  progenitors,  who  may  have 
reared  the  city  now  roofless,  voiceless,  and  desolate.  After  a 
few  minutes'  conversation,  we  started  on  our  way ;  a  long  line 
of  adobes  (unburned  blocks  of  clay)  lined  the  pathway,  and 
human  skeletons  and  shreds  of  cotton  cloths  strewed  the  loose 
sand ;  hair  once  black,  changed  by  the  lapse  of  centuries  to  a 
dull  brown,  hung  in  matted  masses  upon  the  skulls,  and  the 
1  sightless  orbs'  were  upturned  in  death  to  the  broad  rays  of 
their  deity  in  life, — the  sun.  The  sides  of  the  hills  are  so 
thickly  covered  with  graves  yet  undisturbed  that  we  had  no 
difficulty  in  obtaining  mummies ;  as  the  men  dug  with  mattock 
and  spade,  a  fine  impalpable  dust  and  loose  stones  were  thrown 
out,  and  soon  disclosed  bodies  tied  so  that  the  chin  rests  upon 
the  knees,  and  the  heels  against  the  upper  part  of  the  thigh- 
bone, the  arms  folded  close  against  the  body,  with  the  hand 
resting  against  the  lower  part  of  the  ear.  The  bodies  are 
swathed  in  cotton  cloths,  many  of  them  of  brilliant  colors  and 
beautifully  woven,  then  put  in  sacks  or  wrapped  around  with 
coarser  cloth  and  enclosed  with  a  net-work  of  coarse  meshes 
made  of  a  species  of  Sisal  hemp,  and  fitting  so  closely  as  to 
reveal  at  once  the  outline  of  the  human  figure,  folded  as 
described.  The  bodies  have  dried  without  decay,  and  the  cloths 
and  sacks  are  often  unstained,  as  though  but  recently  interred ; 
this  no  doubt  arises  from  the  fact  that  there  is  no  rainfall  suffi- 
cient to  penetrate  the  earth ;  the  bodies  were  interred  in  dust, 
and  dust  it  has  remained  for  at  least  three  centuries.  The  earth 
is  highly  charged  with  nitrate  of  soda,  which  perhaps  has  aided 
to  prevent  decay. 

"  When  our  men  had  disinterred  several  mummies,  my  friend 
was  at  a  loss  to  know  if  his  carrying  off  the  skulls  would  shock 
the  paisanos  (country  people).  On  asking  their  views,  they 
replied,  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  i  Porque  no  llevarlos  si 
Ustedes  gustenf  aquellos  no  son  nada  mas  que  crdneos  de 
Gentiles'  ('  Why  should  you  not  take  them  if  you  wish ?  they 
are  only  the  skulls  of  heathens.') 

"  We  made  a  tour  through  long  streets  of  the  ancient  and 
now  roofless  city,  between  adobe  houses  of  imposing  size,  over 
the  door-ways  of  which  were  found  undecayed  layers  of  small 


312         THE   OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

reeds  which  served  as  lintels.  The  absence  of  extreme  heat  and 
cold,  and  the  fact  that  they  were  never  saturated  by  rains,  must 
account  for  their  preservation  for  so  many  centuries. 

"  We  ascended  on  horseback  a  steep  pathway  and  stood  upon 
the  site  of  the  ancient  temples  of  Pachacamac  and  of  Con. 
Their  foundations  are  not  visible,  but,  buried  beneath  the  debris, 
may  be  disinterred  at  some  future  time.  The  summit  of  the 
hill  covers  nearly  an  acre  of  ground,  and  is  about  four  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  above  sea-level.  The  slope  facing  towards  the 
sandy  plain  is  divided  into  three  escarpments,  which  are  walled 
in  part  with  stones  and  in  part  with  adobes,  and  plastered  with 
clay  and  painted  red :  the  color  has  withstood  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  climate  for  centuries  and  bids  fair  to  do  so  for  some  time 
to  come.  These  walled  escarpments  are  each  some  twenty-five 
feet  in  height  and  in  the  form  of  stairs,  thus  forming  benches 
which  could  be  occupied  by  men  defending  the  place. 

"  The  side  towards  the  sea  is  crowned  by  an  adobe  wall,  built 
with  buttresses,  and  crenellated  or  niched,  after  the  manner  of 
Moorish  towers;  the  lower  part  of  the  hill  on  that  side  was 
also  cut  perpendicularly  and  walled  to  a  considerable  height. 
The  hill  itself,  as  well  as  the  surrounding  heights,  appears  to  be 
composed  of  a  friable  gneiss.  .  .  .  From  the  trees  which  skirted 
the  beautiful  valley  of  Lurin  came  up  the  song  of  birds,  and 
ceaselessly  the  loud  monotonous  roar  of  the  ocean,  as  it  did  in 
the  time  of  the  Incas.  In  the  distance,  through  the  shifting 
mists  peered  the  majestic  peaks  of  the  Andes,  blanched  by  the 
eternal  snows  and  glittering  in  the  sunlight." 

During  our  return  from  Pachacamac  to  Lima,  on  horseback, 
we  experienced  an  earthquake  :  it  frightened  the  animals  greatly. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS.  313 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

Sandwich  Islands— Acapulco— Leon— Kealejo— Nicaragua— A  Tropical  For- 
est—Mr. Lamar,  United  States  Minister— General  Tomas  Martinez- 
Native  Bum- A  Trip  to  the  Country— The  Solteras— Hammocks— A 
Shooting-Excursion— Alligators— Mr.  Lamar's  Archives— Visit  from  the 
President— The  Wardroom  Steward  and  the  Black  Dog— The  Decatur, 
Yandalia,  and  Saranac — The  British  Minister — Panama — Valparaiso — 
Reach  Norfolk. 

After  spending  some  weeks  at  anchor  at  Callao,  occupying 
ourselves  with  what  was  interesting,  it  was  with  pleasure  that 
we  tripped  anchor  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  five  thousand  miles 
away.  The  voyage  was  over  the  smoothest  part  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  we  literally  "  only  had  to  sit  down  and  let  the  wind 
blow  us  along,"  which  an  old  woman  said  was  all  that  sailors 
did  at  sea,  besides  "  spinning  yarns."  The  voyage  occupied  more 
than  a  month,  and  it  was  the  23d  of  October  when  we  dropped 
anchor  off  the  port  of  Honolulu,  the  depth  of  water  not  per- 
mitting vessels  of  more  than  fifteen  feet  draught  to  enter.  It  is 
a  beautiful  coral-protected  harbor,  and  might  readily  be  blasted 
to  a  depth  sufficient  to  admit  heavy  vessels.  As  we  passed  we 
had  a  grand  view  of  the  island  of  Hawaii,  and  many  were  the 
regrets  that  we  could  not  pay  it  a  visit.  As  we  approached 
Honolulu  we  saw  in  the  bare  volcanic  rocks  several  small  extinct 
craters,  known  as  the  Devil's  punch-bowls.  They  were  very 
much  like  those  inside  of  Cape  Pillar  on  Terra  del  Fuego. 

It  was  rainy  and  muddy  during  the  ten  days  that  we  were  at 
anchor  off  the  port,  and  I  saw  little  of  the  shore  in  that  time. 
I,  however,  rode  on  horseback  across  the  island,  ascending  all 
the  time,  and  reached  the  line  of  cliffs  more  than  a  thousand  feet 
in  height,  which  are  almost  perpendicular,  and  which  overhang 
a  broad  and  apparently  very  fertile  plain,  near  the  level  of  the 
water.  I  saw  enough  of  the  islanders  to  convince  me  that  they 
would  soon  be  extinct,  as  they  would  have  little  chance  in  the 
struggle  for  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest." 

We  were  glad  to  leave  for  Acapulco,  not  that  it  has  any  great 


314  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

charm,  but  to  get  letters  from  our  friends  and  visit  the  coast  of 
Nicaragua,  whither  we  were  bound.  We  were  thirty-one  days 
under  sail  when  we  entered  the  harbor.  In  the  time  of  the 
Spanish  galleons  Acapulco  was  one  of  the  richest  ports  of  the 
world.  The  trade  with  the  Philippine  Islands  was  productive 
of  great  wealth  for  that  day,  and  it  was  only  so  lately  as  1780 
that  Anson  blockaded  it  with  a  pertinacy  that  seems  wonderful. 
I  have  in  the  preceding  pages  spoken  of  Anson's  visit  to  the 
islands  of  Tinian  and  Say  pan  of  the  Ladrone  chain,  a  stopping- 
place  between  Acapulco  and  the  Philippines.  The  only  thing 
notable  at  this  day  at  Acapulco  is  an  immense  escarpment  of  a  hill 
that  was  cutaway  to  allow  the  sea-breeze  to  enter,  in  the  hope  of 
making  the  fevers  that  affected  the  town  less  fatal.  At  certain 
seasons  of  the  year  a  congestive  fever  has  wrought  serious 
ravages  among  the  crews  of  vessels-of-war  lying  at  this  port. 
The  inner  and  the  outer  harbor,  and  the  low  ground  between 
them  covered  with  luxuriant  cocoa-nut-trees,  are  beautiful.  When 
vessels-of-war  visit  Acapulco,  they  should,  except  there  be  some 
good  reason  to  the  contrary,  get  under  way  as  soon  as  the  land- 
breeze  sets  out,  and  when  clear  of  the  offing  should  remain  there 
until  the  sea-breeze  sets  in.  This  will  assure  a  healthy  crew  and 
an  agreeable  temperature,  and  will  serve  besides  as  a  useful  ex- 
ercise. When  in  this  port  we  made  a  compass-deviation  card, 
swinging  ship  by  means  of  kedges  and  hawsers  laid  out  for  that 
purpose. 

After  remaining  ten  days  without  contracting  the  fever,  we 
left  for  Corinto,  known  at  that  time  as  Realejo.  The  run  along 
the  coast  was  very  agreeable ;  we  had  a  bright  moon  and  a  good 
breeze  ;  it  was  curious  to  observe  the  large  fleecy  clouds,  as  they 
came  down  with  the  wind,  grow  less  and  less,  and  finally  dis- 
appear from  the  dryer  atmosphere  we  were  reaching.  Our 
voyage  was  short :  on  the  7th  of  December  we  anchored  off  the 
port,  and,  after  sounding  out  the  entrance  and  the  harbor,  we 
entered  two  days  later  and  moored  ship,  the  harbor  being  too 
narrow  to  allow  so  long  a  vessel  as  the  Merrimac  to  ride  at  single 
anchor. 

A  few  days  after  our  arrival  Captain  Hitchcock,  who  com- 
manded the  Merrimac,  invited  me  to  accompany  him  to  Leon, 


LEON.  315 

about  thirty  miles  distant  from  Realejo,  a  small  village  five  miles 
from  our  anchorage,  situated  up  a  small  creek  that  was  almost 
dry  at  low  water.  Horses  were  to  be  provided  by  Pio  Castellano, 
the  alcalde  of  the  village,  who  was  to  accompany  us  as  guide, 
and  we  were  to  start  early,  so  as  to  reach  Leon  before  night. 
We  were  at  the  village  early  enough,  but  it  was  afternoon  before 
Pio  brought  the  horses  and  we  set  out  by  a  pathway  through  the 
wood  which  fell  into  a  wagon-road  some  miles  beyond.  For  a 
time  we  were  shaded  by  magnificent  trees,  from  many  of  which 
depended  the  long  brandies  of  climbing  vines,  so  that  we  had  to 
keep  a  bright  lookout  to  avoid  being  dragged  off  our  horses  by 
some  of  them.  A  densely-shaded  tropical  forest  is  usually  quite 
obscure  from  the  matted  vines  that  interlace  and  cover  the  tree- 
tops. 

When  it  grew  dark,  which  occurs  very  suddenly  in  the 
tropics,  we  were  ten  miles  from  Leon ;  the  rainy  season,  which 
was  just  over,  had  cut  the  road  into  ravines;  in  narrow  places 
our  horses  would  sometimes  step  down  to  a  depth  of  two  feet ; 
in  daylight  this  would  not  have  been  difficult,  but  in  the  dark 
it  was  an  uncertain  operation,  and  we  proceeded  slowly  from 
necessity.  It  was  ten  o'clock  when  we  arrived  at  the  hotel 
where  our  minister  made  his  quarters.  He  was  Mr.  Mirabeau 
B.  Lamar,  from  Texas,  gentlemanly  in  manner,  rather  small  in 
stature,  poetic  in  expression,  and,  as  I  learned  afterwards,  had 
written  a  book  of  poetry  as  big  as  a  Bible,  which  I  made 
inquiry  for  on  reaching  home  and  did  not  find.  There  was 
nothing  aggressive  about  him,  although  he  was  one  of  Sam 
Houston's  braves  in  the  taking  of  Texas  ;  nor  was  he  a  person 
who  would  be  regarded  with  any  particular  interest  by  a 
stranger.  He  knew  nothing  of  the  lauguage  of  the  country, 
and,  like  many  other  of  our  diplomats  and  consular  repre- 
sentatives abroad,  seemed  to  be  indifferent  to  it  on  general 
principles ;  nevertheless  he  had  an  abiding  faith  in  the  honesty 
of  the  native  Nicaraguans  and  in  the  healthfulness  of  the  liquor 
of  the  country.  I  must  add,  to  avoid  a  suspicion  of  malice, 
that  I  never  saw  him  tipsy,  and  feel  sure  that  should  he  ever 
have  been  so  he  would  have  "  behaved  like  a  gentleman."  The 
next  day  Mr.  Lamar  accompanied  Captain  Hitchcock  to  pay 


316         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

his  respects  to  his  Excellency  General  Tomas  Martinez,  the 
President  of  Nicaragua,  and  I  was  invited  to  accompany  them. 
The  President  was  quite  a  young  man  for  that  position,  and 
was  handsome  and  agreeable.  He  had  shown  courage  and 
ability  a  year  or  two  earlier  in  aiding  to  expel  the  filibuster 
Walker,  called  by  his  admirers  the  "  gray-eyed  man  of  destiny." 

After  spending  two  days  at  Leon,  and  looking  at  a  large  and 
costly  cathedral  built  by  the  old  Spaniards,  we  returned  by  way 
of  Chichagalpa  and  Chinendega,  making  the  distance  to  Realejo 
about  forty  miles.  We  set  out  in  the  afternoon  while  the  sun 
was  still  well  up,  and,  riding  fast,  got  over  the  fifteen  or  more 
miles  before  night,  and  found  a  fairly  comfortable  posada,  or 
country  hotel,  at  Chichagalpa.  The  road  was  dusty,  and  as 
soon  as  we  arrived  I  sent  our  guide  to  get  a  bottle  of  aguar- 
diente, or  native  rum  made  from  sugar-cane :  this,  diluted  with 
water,  I  applied  externally  in  washing,  and  internally  in  clear- 
ing the  mouth  and  nostrils  from  dust.  The  captain  came  in,  and 
seeing  me  using  some  rum  in  the  water,  asked  a  taste,  which  I 
gave  hirn.  He  made  a  face,  threw  it  away,  and  pronounced  it 
"  awful  stuff."  I  presented  the  remainder  of  the  bottle  to  the 
guide,  who  was  soon  in  fine  feather,  and  was  still  so  the  next 
morning. 

We  set  out  early,  to  avoid  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  made 
twenty  miles  very  agreeably.  The  whole  distance  traversed 
from  Leon  to  Chinendega  was  over  a  very  fertile  plain,  with  few 
haciendas  and  residences ;  to  the  north,  at  a  distance  of  three 
leagues,  was  a  range  of  volcanic  mountains,  with  five  peaks 
some  four  or  five  thousand  feet  in  height;  their  flanks  were 
covered  with  foliage  nearly  to  their  summits.  As  we  journeyed 
towards  Chinendega  our  guide  was  voluble  and  suggestive  as  to 
our  comfort  on  our  arrival ;  he  said  there  was  no  posada  that 
was  respectable,  and  proposed  that  we  should  go  to  the  house  of 
some  one  of  the  several  families  whom  he  named,  who  would 
be  pleased  to  see  us.  We  considered  his  proposition  favorably, 
and  alighted  at  the  house  of  a  former  Spanish  consul,  Navarro, 
whose  four  daughters  were  known  as  solteras,the  Spanish  term 
for  "spinsters," — which,  however,  does  not  carry  with  it  the 
offensiveness  that   usually  attaches  to  our  term  "old  maids." 


THE  SOLTERAS.  317 

We  were  invited  into  a  large  airy  room,  presented  with  cigars, 
and  requested  to  seat  ourselves  in  hammocks,  which  at  that  time 
were  always  suspended  in  the  sitting-rooms.  The  captain  de- 
clined, from  a  fear  of  seeming  too  familiar,  but,  as  I  had  been 
in  Paraguay  and  other  Spanish- American  countries  and  knew 
los  costumbres  del  pais,  I  seated  myself,  lighted  my  cigar,  and 
entered  into  conversation  with  the  solteras,  bright  women,  though 
no  longer  young.  I  wished  to  know  how  it  happened  that  foui 
such  agreeable  young  ladies  had  not  married,  and  was  told,  with 
a  smile,  that  they  had  had  no  offers.  I  pronounced  this  dis- 
parate (nonsense),  saying  that  I  had  too  high  an  opinion  of  the 
good  taste  of  Nicaraguan  gentlemen  to  believe  this  for  a  moment, 
and  that  I  knew  ladies  in  my  own  country  who,  instead  of 
marrying  and  making  one  man  happy,  delighted  in  exciting  the 
admiration  and  love  of  all,  and  then  maliciously  refusing  all 
offers.  The  captain,  who  was  naturally  formal,  fell  in  at  once 
with  my  jocularity,  as  did  also  the  solteras.  I  was  the  inter- 
preter with  a  not  overburdened  vocabulary,  but  had  at  least  the 
wish  to  say  pleasant  things,  which  does  a  great  deal  to  bridge 
over  difficulties.  I  had  at  that  time  recently  read  "Eothen, 
or  Travels  in  the  East," — afterwards  known  to  be  by  Kinglake, 
who  had  never  been  in  the  East, — and  had  in  my  mind  a 
graphic  account  of  the  presentation  of  an  Englishman  to  the 
Sultan,  giving  what  the  Englishman  actually  said,  what  he  said 
as  interpreted  by  the  dragoman,  then  what  the  Sultan  actually 
said,  and  what  the  interpreter  gave  to  the  Englishman  as  a 
translation.  After  the  interview  the  Sultan  remarked  that  he 
was  pleased  to  have  found  one  Englishman  with  some  idea  of 
expression,  and  the  Englishman  said,  "  Why,  God  bless  my 
soul,  that  Sultan  is  a  very  sensible  man :  he  talks  just  like  an 
Englishman." 

The  ladies  had  an  excellent  breakfast  prepared  for  us,  and 
sent  for  two  of  their  nieces,  the  one  a  bright  young  woman  and 
the  other  an  agreeable  chatterbox  of  a  dozen  years,  who  became 
my  particular  and  lasting  friend ;  the  meal  was  served  under  an 
interior  tiled  roofing  extending  around  the  patio,  an  enclosed 
court-yard  in  which  orange-trees  are  usually  planted,  sometimes 
the  papayo  or  banana.     Everybody  was  amiable ;  and  the  cap- 


318  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

tain  and  myself,  after  our  long,  dusty  ride,  thoroughly  enjoyed  an 
excellent  breakfast  with  such  pleasant  surroundings. 

One  who  has  acquired  the  art  of  sitting  or  lying  in  a  grass 
hammock  such  as  they  have  in  Central  America  has  within  his 
reach  an  amount  of  ease  and  comfort  to  a  tired  restive  person 
such  as  is  not  to  be  obtained  in  any  other  way.  I  have  found 
it  possible  to  go  to  sleep  and  rest  soundly  on  a  hammock  of  this 
kind  when  I  could  not  have  done  so  on  the  most  luxurious  bed. 
From  practical  experience  I  can  commend  a  good  grass  hammock 
to  persons  suffering  from  insomnia  or  from  a  condition  of  the 
system  in  which  every  attempt  to  take  an  easy  position  ends  in 
a  failure. 

After  the  heat  of  the  day  had  passed,  our  horses  were  brought, 
and  we  took  our  leave.  The  ladies  were  invited  to  come  on 
board  and  breakfast  with  us  and  bring  their  friends ;  a  day  was 
appointed,  and  we  had  a  grand  reception  and  dance  on  board, 
quite  as  acceptable  to  the  officers  as  to  the  acquaintances  we  had 
made  by  paying  them  a  visit  and  becoming  self-invited  guests. 
These  kind  relations  continued  during  our  stay  of  several  months; 
when  off  duty  our  officers  visited  Chinendega  or  went  on  shoot- 
ing-excursions into  the  interior.  On  several  occasions  we  had 
the  pleasure  of  receiving  our  friends  on  board ;  at  that  time  the 
carriages  of  the  country  were  carts  with  wooden  hubs  and  wheels ; 
as  they  passed  along,  drawn  by  four  oxen  when  used  for  loco- 
motion only,  they  made  a  shrieking  noise  that  could  be  heard  for 
miles ;  but  the  young  ladies  could  not  have  been  more  charm- 
ing had  the  carts  been  coaches  and  the  oxen  blooded  horses. 

Accompanied  by  a  friend,  I  made  a  shooting-excursion  of  two 
days  to  El  Viejo,  a  volcanic  peak  two  leagues  from  Chinen- 
dega. Upon  its  sides,  deer,  peccary,  two  species  of  pheasant, 
and  various  other  beasts  and  birds,  were  abundant.  On  our 
journey  to  the  mountain  we  crossed  on  a  substantial  bridge  a 
small  swift-running  stream,  that  resembled  a  large  mill-race, 
fifteen  feet  wide  and  five  feet  deep;  it  was  quite  clear,  and, 
happening  to  look  down  into  it,  I  saw  a  shark  six  feet  in  length 
swimming  up  the  stream.  At  that  time  I  was  not  aware  that 
Lake  Nicaragua  was  filled  with  sharks  ;  from  the  fact  that  Lake 
Managua  has  none,  although  at  times  there  is  a  water-flow  from 


MR.  LAMAR'S  ARCHIVES.  319 

it,  the  inference  may  be  drawn  that  the  shark  of  Lake  Nicaragua 
is  not  entirely  a  fresh-water  fish,  as  was  supposed  by  the  late 
Professor  Baird,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

Our  destination  was  a  small  cattle-farm  about  three  miles  dis- 
tant from  this  stream,  and  probably  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
sea-level.  Wherever  cattle  are  found,  a  very  minute  tick,  almost 
invisible  without  a  lens,  is  sure  to  abound  in  the  dry  season.  I 
soon  found  myself  suffering  from  their  bites,  which  are  like  coals 
of  fire ;  in  order  to  rid  myself  of  the  insects  I  stood  on  a  rock 
in  the  middle  of  a  free-flowing  mountain-stream  and  tried  to 
pick  them  off,  but  they  appeared  to  fall  from  the  trees  so  fast 
as  to  render  it  a  hopeless  task.  I  did  not  know  then  that  the 
proper  way  to  get  rid  of  them  was  to  carry  a  soft  piece  of  bees- 
wax and  apply  it  over  the  arm  or  other  afflicted  part ;  it  has 
quite  a  captivating  quality  and  assuages  the  pain  too.  A  native 
came  along  while  I  was  engaged  upon  the  rock,  and  told  me  to 
take  care.  I  inquired,  in  some  surprise,  "  Of  what  ?"  In  reply 
he  pointed  to  a  hole  of  deep  water  near  by,  and  said  that  a  large 
alligator  lived  there  and  might  rush  out  and  seize  me.  Nobody 
would  have  suspected  the  presence  of  an  alligator  in  such  a  place 
high  above  the  lagoons  which  form  the  reptile's  usual  habitat. 

A  species  of  guinea-fowl  known  as  the  chacalacca  gave  them- 
selves more  amusement  than  they  gave  me.  They  appeared  to 
understand  the  object  of  my  visit,  and  would  alight  on  the  top 
of  a  tree  and  set  up  a  wild  cry,  as  if  of  alarm.  Then  I  would 
set  about  stalking  them  in  the  most  approved  manner,  and  would 
be  allowed  to  come  almost  within  gunshot,  when  they  would  fly 
to  a  neighboring  tree,  to  repeat  the  same  manoeuvre,  until,  after 
several  failures,  I  desisted  from  my  efforts. 

A  few  days  after  our  return  from  Leon  we  received  a  visit 
from  Minister  Lamar.  He  arrived  in  the  afternoon,  and  slept  on 
board  of  the  vessel,  where  he  was  provided  with  a  comfortable 
state-room  and  bed  in  the  captain's  cabin.  Soon  after  breakfast, 
at  his  request,  he  was  landed  near  the  vessel,  and  when  asked 
by  the  officer  of  the  boat  when  he  should  return  for  him,  made 
no  definite  reply.  He  bore  under  his  arm  a  colored  pocket-hand- 
kerchief, which  enveloped  the  archives  of  the  Legation,  as  he 
informed  the  captain.     A  native,  who  had  established  a  small 


320  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

•posada  near  by,  rendered  his  assistance  in  supplying  the  minister 
with  a  box  to  sit  upon,  and  two  empty  barrels  with  a  plank  to 
place  over  them  to  serve  as  a  table.  This  was  arranged  under 
the  broad  spreading  branches  of  a  tree,  and  Mr.  Lamar  was  soon 
engaged  in  formulating  a  diplomatic  letter  or  report  to  the  State 
Department,  using  the  left  hand  to  drive  off  the  mosquitoes 
when  they  sought  to  disturb  him.  When  the  hour  of  luncheon 
arrived,  a  boat  was  sent  for  him ;  he  reluctantly  rolled  up  the 
archives  in  the  pocket-handkerchief,  intrusted  them  to  the  native, 
and  came  on  board,  evidently  annoyed  at  the  interruption,  or 
at  his  return  to  the  vessel.  As  soon  as  he  could  do  so  with 
propriety  he  asked  for  a  boat  and  returned  to  his  laborious  occu- 
pation under  the  tree.  At  nightfall  the  boat  was  sent  for  him, 
and  he  came  on  board,  bringing  his  archives  with  him,  but  by 
no  means  in  a  genial  mood.  He  appeared  to  be  oppressed  with 
the  order  and  routine  of  the  vessel.  On  his  arrival  he  had  been 
received  with  the  salute  due  to  his  rank,  and  every  attention  had 
been  paid  him,  but  he  seemed  to  be  annoyed  thereby,  rather  than 
gratified.  The  next  day  he  received  a  salute  on  landing,  and 
set  out  on  his  return  to  Leon ;  and  we  saw  nothing  more  of  him 
during  our  stay  of  several  months. 

A  few  days  later,  on  the  18th  of  December,  we  had  a  visit 
from  President  Martinez,  accompanied  by  his  staff.  He  was 
received  with  attention,  inspected  the  vessel,  and  seemed  to  enjoy 
his  visit.  When  he  left,  the  vards  were  manned  and  a  national 
salute  was  fired  in  his  honor. 

During  our  stay,  our  wardroom  steward,  an  Italian  from  the 
borders  of  the  Adriatic,  became  a  shining  star  on  shore.  He 
was  a  large,  clumsy  man,  forty  years  of  age,  with  a  full  round 
face,  at  times  as  red  as  the  rising  moon.  Blessed  as  he  was  at 
all  times  with  a  fair  amount  of  assurance,  when  his  face  was  red 
he  thought  he  knew  everything.  Having  a  large  mess  to  pro- 
vide for,  and  a  full  purse,  he  became  an  authority  with  the  native 
population.  Being  told  that  a  man  was  ill  from  an  engorge- 
ment of  the  liver,  he  went  to  see  him,  and  said  his  case  was  not 
serious;  he  could  cure  him  by  treating  him  as  persons  similarly 
afflicted  were  treated  in  his  country.  All  that  he  required  was 
a  black  dog.     Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  securing  the 


THE  BRITISH  MINISTER.  321 

animal,  the  whole  country  being  searched  in  vain,  but  the  for- 
tuitous arrival  of  a  coasting-brig  brought  the  much -longed-for 
black  dog.  The  captain  of  the  vessel  did  not  like  to  part  with 
him,  but  when  informed  that  the  doctor  thought  a  black  dog 
was  the  only  remedy  that  would  save  a  sick  man's  life  his 
instinct  of  humanity  prompted  him  to  hand  over  the  animal  at 
once.  It  was  killed  and  his  skin  wrapped  closely  around  the 
body  of  the  sick  man  over  the  region  of  the  liver ;  a  dog  soup 
was  made,  also  a  dog  stew,  and  dog  steaks  were  prepared,  and 
the  patient  fed  on  this  savory  diet  to  repletion.  The  self-consti- 
tuted doctor  said  that  after  eating  freely  of  this  food  the  patient 
would  vomit  up  the  diseased  liver,  and  a  new  one  would  form. 
The  man  vomited  freely,  but  some  obstruction  prevented  the 
liver  from  being  thrown  up,  and  the  patient  died  notwithstand- 
ing the  physician's  skill.  While  undergoing  this  treatment,  the 
man  was  surrounded  by  hopeful  friends,  who  were  sadly  disap- 
pointed at  the  result.  This  occurrence  was  narrated  at  our  din- 
ner-table, much  to  the  chagrin  of  the  steward  who  had  assumed 
the  role  of  doctor.  His  practice  on  shore  did  not  increase ;  he 
gained  a  title,  but  no  other  patients  presented  themselves. 

On  our  arrival  at  Realejo  we  found  the  sloop-of-war  Decatur, 
and  not  long  after  the  Vandalia  and  the  Saranac  came  in,  and 
remained  some  time.  The  British  minister,  Sir  William  Gore 
Ouseley,  was  then  negotiating  a  treaty  with  the  Nicaraguan  gov- 
ernment, which  I  think  was  never  ratified.  He  came  to  Realejo 
accompanied  by  his  wife  and  daughter,  and  paid  the  Merrimac 
a  visit  soon  after  President  Martinez.  His  wife  was  a  lady  of 
New  York ;  his  daughter  was  just  verging  upon  womanhood 
and  was  quite  tall  and  good-looking. 

There  was  a  considerable  flat  of  sand  some  distance  behind  a 
clump  of  mangrove-bushes,  which,  as  it  was  overflown  by  very 
high  tides,  was  quite  firm  at  other  times.  This  was  resorted  to 
for  a  battalion  drill,"  which  seems  to  delight  the  sea-officer  of  to- 
day more  than  it  did  in  the  past  and  more  than  anything  afloat. 
Although  it  should  serve  as  a  part  of  a  routine,  it  will  rarely  be 
useful  when  operating  against  a  civilized  people.  These  demon- 
strations gave  the  Nicaraguans  at  first  misgivings  that  we  medi- 
tated an  attack  upon  them,  but  after  a  long  intercourse  they 

21 


322  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

became  satisfied  of  our  peaceful  disposition,  and  all  the  people 
with  whom  we  came  in  contact  were  our  friends,  as  they  saw  we 
were  not  inclined  to  be  filibusters  or  to  treat  them  badly  in  any 
manner. 

We  left  our  anchorage  on  the  26th  of  March,  and  five  days 
later  anchored  at  Panama.  After  a  first  visit  Panama  is  a  very 
uninteresting  port ;  our  stay  of  five  weeks  was  exceedingly  tire- 
some, but  vessels-of-war  have  their  resources,  and  going  on  shore 
may  serve  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  a  more  satisfactory  way 
of  taking  exercise  than  is  possible  on  board  ship.  We  lay 
several  miles  from  the  landing,  a  mile  or  so  beyond  where  we 
might  have  anchored  ;  and  in  addition  to  the  distance  there  was 
the  annoyance  of  a  great  rise  and  fall  of  tide,  which  necessitated 
either  going  on  shore  at  high  tide  or  walking  long  distances  on 
ledges  of  coral  rock,  varied  by  occasional  encounters  with  pockets 
of  mud.  An  unusual  occurrence  while  we  were  there  was  a 
northern  light  as  brilliant  as  any  I  have  seen  at  Washington, — 
something  that  I  had  never  heard  of  before  in  that  latitude.  An 
unusual  drought  prevailed  during  our  stay  ;  this  is  not  often  a 
subject  of  complaint  at  Panama,  where  showers  very  frequently 
occur  during  the  dry  season ;  the  leaves  on  the  trees  were  so 
withered  as  to  have  the  appearance  of  being  dead. 

We  were  very  glad  to  leave,  the  more  so  as  we  were  homeward 
bound,  with  the  reservation  that  we  were  to  touch  at  Callao, 
Valparaiso,  and  Rio  Janeiro,  each  voyage  bringing  us  nearer 
home.  When  three  days  out,  we  were  steaming  along  slowly, 
not  more  than  three  knots,  against  a  moderately  fresh  breeze, 
when  the  engines  gave  a  squeal  and  a  grunt  and  then  remained 
in  a  state  of  "  innocuous  desuetude."  Sail-loosers  were  sent  aloft, 
and  in  ten  minutes  we  were  under  all  plain  sail,  making  eight 
knots  or  more,  close-hauled  on  the  port  tack.  As  wre  proceeded, 
the  wind  headed  us  more  and  more  off  shore,  so  that  when  our 
engines  had  been  patched  up  we  were  so  far  from  the  coast  that 
Flag-Officer  Montgomery,  who  had  relieved  Long,  determined 
to  proceed  directly  under  sail  to  Valparaiso.  When  I  was  in 
charge  of  the  deck  he  asked  the  probable  length  of  time  required 
to  make  the  voyage.  I  named  thirty  days,  which  would  have 
been  exact  had  we  steamed  southeast  instead  of  south  after  we 


VALPARAISO.  323 

had  run  out  of  the  trade-winds,  and  thus  increased  the  distance. 
We  carried  sail  fairly  and  made  the  vessel  feel  her  top-gallant 
sails,  often  making  eleven  knots  when  braced  sharp  up  and  only 
rap  full.  "  Scanting  the  wind"  is  a  kind  of  professional  mean- 
ness that  deceives,  but  does  not  reward  the  care  that  is  required 
to  do  it. 

Three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  off  the  coast,  in  nearly  the  lati- 
tude of  Valparaiso,  we  passed  the  high  volcanic  island  of  Juan 
Fernandez,  upon  which  the  scene  of  the  story  of  Alexander 
Selkirk  is  laid,  although  his  shipwreck  actually  occurred  on  one 
of  the  small  islands  of  the  West  Indies.  In  that  clear  atmos- 
phere, one  hundred  miles  from  the  land,  or  even  more,  the 
mountain-ranges  of  the  interior  are  seen  far  above  the  horizon, 
and  the  voyager  sails  hours  and  hours  with  a  good  breeze  right 
for  the  shore,  before  he  comes  in  sight  of  the  sea-beach.  After 
night  it  is  perplexing  to  be  running  for  hours  towards  visible 
land  without  knowing  with  much  certainty  the  distance  to  the 
shore-line. 

There  is  no  city  in  South  America  that  is  visited  by  navy  men 
of  all  nations  with  more  pleasure  than  Valparaiso ;  the  inhab- 
itants, native  and  foreign,  are  hospitable  and  intelligent,  the  at- 
mosphere is  bracing,  and  the  hills  near  by  and  the  mountains  in 
the  distance,  particularly  the  volcano  of  Aconcagua,  make  the 
view  very  enjoyable  to  persons  who  have  made  a  long  voyage. 
In  the  markets  is  found  an  abundance  of  wholesome  meats, 
vegetables,  and  fruits,  among  which  I  was  pleased  to  see  some 
cones  of  the  Araucanian  pine  as  large  as  the  largest  pineapple 
cheese ;  they  contained  one  hundred  and  fifty  seeds,  each  seed 
about  two  inches  in  length  and  half  an  inch  in  diameter.  I  sent 
a  cone  home ;  the  seeds  were  readily  sprouted,  but,  not  being 
adapted  to  the  dry  and  variable  climate  of  Baltimore,  they  soon 
died,  from  lack  of  the  requisite  care.  Probably  they  would 
grow  well  in  the  State  of  Washington,  as  well  as  on  the  islands 
towards  Alaska  and  in  a  part  of  that  territory.  The  nuts  when 
boiled  or  roasted  are  very  good.  The  tree  is  worth  cultivating, 
and,  in  a  region  suited  for  it,  has  a  rapid  growth.  It  grows 
very  large  in  Araucania,  and  from  its  shape  is  called  the  "  club 
of  Hercules." 


324  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

Very  good  saddle-horses  were  obtainable,  and  the  hills  in  the 
vicinity  afforded  ample  occasion  for  pleasant  rides.  One  of  my 
riding-companions  was  Lieutenant  Schonmeyr,  of  the  Swedish 
navy,  a  very  agreeable  and  intelligent  gentleman,  then  serving 
on  the  staif  of  the  French  admiral  in  those  waters. 

Before  we  left  we  gave  an  afternoon  ball  to  our  many  friends 
in  Valparaiso ;  the  day  was  superb,  the  company  large,  and 
nothing  occurred  to  mar  the  enjoyment  of  the  occasion.  I  have 
not  had  the  pleasure  of  revisiting  Valparaiso,  but  I  still  retain 
a  pleasant  recollection  of  it,  as  well  as  of  the  inhabitants,  both 
native  and  foreign. 

We  were  -finally  en  route  home,  to  touch  at  Rio  Janeiro,  and 
soon  on  the  broad  waters  of  a  high  latitude,  where,  as  the  old 
sea-song  says,  "  the  winds  their  revels  keep."  The  vessel  sailed 
well ;  on  the  ninth  day  out  we  were  in  the  latitude  of  Cape 
Horn.  We  ran  several  degrees  south  of  the  cape,  to  latitude 
57°  south.  The  nights  were  quite  short,  the  sun  having  at  that 
season  a  high  southern  declination  :  the  arch  of  light  followed 
along  the  course  of  the  sun  below  the  horizon,  and,  after  dis- 
appearing for  a  brief  period  as  the  twilight  of  the  setting  sun, 
reappeared  again  as  the  dawn  of  the  coming  day.  A  succession 
of  snow-  and  wind-squalls  from  the  southwest  drove  us  along 
grandly ;  there  is  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  amounting  to  exulta- 
tion when  a  fresh  fair  wind  bears  the  mariner  along  homeward 
bound,  and  one  of  actual  depression  when  head-winds  and 
adverse  currents  detain  him  day  after  day  on  the  solitude  of  the 
ocean.  I  never  tired  of  looking  at  the  yellow  western  sky  as 
the  sun  peeped  out  for  a  moment  from  the  rifts  between  the 
clouds  and  gilded  the  crests  of  the  majestic  seas  rolling  on  in 
stately  power  in  an  unbroken  line  for  miles ;  when  they  reached 
the  vessel  the  stern  was  slowly  lifted,  and  soon  after  the  prow 
would  rise  high  above  the  ocean  level  as  the  stern  would  sink 
into  the  valley  between  the  long  undulations;  and  thus  we 
drove  on  homeward  around  Cape  Horn.  The  voyager  between 
Europe  and  America  sees  nothing  comparable  to  this.  At  times 
when  I  was  officer  of  the  deck  the  captain  would  come  on  deck 
and  stand  near  me,  but  he  did  not  share  my  enthusiasm  in  the 
grandeur  of  the  scene,  in  the  whistling  winds  and  fierce  snow- 


REACH  NORFOLK.  325 

squalls,  and  in  the  graceful  movements  of  the  albatross  and 
other  large  sea-birds  sailing  around  the  vessel  so  swiftly  that 
we  seemed  to  be  at  anchor,  coming  so  close  to  us  at  times  that 
we  could  see  the  whites  of  their  eyes.  They  went  along  with- 
out flap  of  wing,  by  some  invisible  mode  of  propulsion,  which 
I  supposed  to  be  due  to  a  management  of  gravitation  when  they 
were  on  the  descending  node.  In  this  and  other  voyages  I  have 
marked  different  birds  by  their  particular  appearance,  and  have 
seen  them  day  after  day  for  a  fortnight,  during  which  we  had 
passed  over  thousands  of  miles,  until  we  would  reach  a  latitude 
beyond  which  they  did  not  wish  to  go.  In  the  South  Atlantic 
they  approach  much  nearer  the  equator  than  I  have  seen  them 
do  in  other  seas.  "  The  Rhyme  of  the  Ancient  Mariner"  brings 
the  albatross  actually  to  the  equator,  where  one  was  never  seen ; 
but  the  weird  poem  required  the  albatross,  and  he  had  come  for 
the  occasion. 

We  anchored  at  Rio  Janeiro  on  the  17th  of  December,  having 
made  the  run  in  thirty-three  days,  notwithstanding  that  we  had 
passed  several  degrees  south  of  Cape  Horn  without  being  bene- 
fited thereby  and  of  course  with  the  disadvantage  of  having 
had  to  sail  the  additional  distance  over  a^ain  on  rounding  the 
cape.  I  have  in  former  pages  spoken  of  the  peerless  grandeur 
of  this  bay  and  its  surroundings.  We  had  the  startling  news 
from  home  of  what  was  known  as  "  the  John  Brown  raid,"  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  some  fifty  miles  west  of  Washington.  It  was 
deplored  by  all  on  board,  and  regarded  as  the  unhappy  culmina- 
tion of  the  action  of  demagogues  of  both  sections,  who  omitted 
no  opportunity  to  endeavor  to  embroil  the  country  in  a  civil 
war.  One  week  after  our  arrival  we  left  Rio  Janeiro,  and  had 
a  pleasant  run  until  we  reached  Norfolk,  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1860.  Ten  days  later  the  ship  was  put  out  of  commission,  the 
men  were  discharged,  and  the  officers  granted  a  three  months' 
leave  to  visit  their  homes. 


326  THE  0LD  NAVF  AND   THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

Changes  in  Norfolk — Meet  Mr.  E.  C.  Anderson  in  Washington,  and  Visit 
Senators  Toombs  and  Jefferson  Davis — Service  at  the  Naval  ^Rendezvous 
in  Baltimore — Condition  of  the  Slaves  in  Maryland — Talk  of  Secession — 
Mr.  Porcher — Remarks  on  the  Beginning  of  the  Civil  War — Hon.  A.  H. 
Stephens — Feeling  of  Naval  Officers — Mrs.  Mactavish — Mr.  Anderson 
discusses  the  Prospects  of  Secession  and  War — Lieutenant  Powell — Visit 
to  Columbus — Governor  Chase — Discuss  the  Organization  of  Ohio  Troops 
— Letter  from  Mr.  Chase. 

Norfolk  presented  signs  of  great  perturbation :  boys,  from 
the  toddler  in  skirts  to  the  user  of  bear's  oil  to  promote  the 
growth  of  whiskers,  were  transformed  into  zouaves  and  other 
military  men,  and  the  young  ladies  wore  gold  lace  wherever  it 
was  supposed  to  be  the  most  becoming,  to  personate  Joans  or 
simply  vivandi&res  or  filles  du  rSgiment.  It  seemed  to  me  an 
unfortunate  ebullition,  that  would  soon  subside :  John  Brown 
and  his  followers  were  regarded  at  that  time  by  the  people  of 
the  North  and  West  generally  as  madmen,  but  of  the  kind 
whose  insanity  would  best  be  cured  by  a  halter. 

By  agreement,  on  leaving  the  vessel  I  met  in  Washington  my 
life-long  and  intimate  friend  E.  C.  Anderson,  of  whom  I  have 
made 'mention  in  the  preceding  pages.  He  had  served  in  the 
navy  for  seventeen  years,  and  resigned  in  1848,  when  an  old 
lieutenant.  In  civil  life  he  was  a  cotton-planter,  and  for  many 
years  was  mayor  of  the  city  of  Savannah,  where  he  lived  during 
the  winter  season.  His  plantation  was  a  model  of  comfort  and 
neatness,  and  his  slaves  were  well  cared  for.  I  always  felt  when 
on  his  place  that  he  and  his  wife  had  much  more  to  suffer  from 
slavery  than  their  slaves  had.  An  hour  before  the  meeting  of 
the  Senate,  Anderson  and  myself  went  to  the  Senate-chamber, 
he  to  see  Toombs  of  Georgia,  and  I  to  see  Jefferson  Davis  of 
Mississippi.  We  found  them  side  by  side  in  their  chairs,  read- 
ing the  morning  papers  and  discussing  the  news  of  the  day. 
Davis  remarked  that  "  there  was  another  Richmond  in  the  field/' 
referring  to  another  aspirant  for  the  Presidency,  but  I  have  no 


TALK  OF  SECESSION.  327 

recollection  as  to  the  name  of  the  person  alluded  to.  After  an 
agreeable  conversation  of  a  few  minutes,  we  left.  I  never  again 
saw  either  of  the  Senators,  nor  did  I  re-enter  the  Senate-chamber 
until  some  time  after  the  close  of  the  civil  war.  If  there  was 
an  apprehension  at  that  time  in  the  mind  of  my  friend  that  a 
year  later  we  would  be  engaged  in  a  civil  war,  it  was  not  ap- 
parent. Secession  seemed  to  me  so  utterly  suicidal,  and  my 
belief  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  reason  was  so  firm,  that  I 
almost  dismissed  from  my  mind  the  likelihood  of  a  disruption ; 
yet  still  I  had  a  feeling  of  what  the  Germans  call  "  unrest"  as 
to  the  situation. 

In  May  I  was  ordered  to  the  Naval  Rendezvous  at  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  the  only  nominal  shore-duty  I  have  ever  had  during 
my  entire  service  in  the  navy.  When  attached  to  the  Coast 
Survey  during  the  winters  spent  at  Washington  I  always  found 
abundant  work  to  do.  At  Baltimore,  however,  as  few  sailors 
enlisted  from  that  city,  the  officer  on  duty  had  little  to  do  save 
to  sit  in  waiting  at  the  rendezvous,  read  the  morning  newspapers, 
and  occasionally  look  at  a  sailor  and  decide  upon  his  enlistment. 
Baltimore  was  a  hospitable  city,  and  from  a  partial  residence 
there  at  different  times  I  had  a  number  of  agreeable  acquaint- 
ances. The  persons  whom  I  knew  were  quite  Southern  in  their 
proclivities :  in  the  city  there  were  few  slaves,  and  in  the  sur- 
rounding counties,  if  many  slaves  were  held  on  a  few  planta- 
tions they  were  so  comfortable  and  well  taken  care  of  that  very 
few  wished  to  escape, — which  would  have  been  an  easy  matter 
to  any  one  possessed  of  good  sense  and  a  serious  intention.  It 
was  well  known  among  the  slaves  that  fugitives  from  any  of 
the  border  States  had  zealous  friends  within  the  free  States  who 
gave  them  shelter  and  advice. 

The  political  situation  was  at  that  time  the  sole  topic  of  con- 
versation, and  after  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  the  declared 
intention  of  the  Southern  and  even  of  some  of  the  border  States 
to  "secede"  was  freely  discussed.  After  the  election  of  Lincoln 
the  expression  was  constantly  heard,  "  Oh,  yes,  there  will  be  a 
separation  of  the  States,  but  there  will  be  no  war."  When  the 
Merrimac  was  on  the  Pacific  coast,  after  the  arrival  of  the  mails 
there  was  always  an   ebullition   among  our  officers  from  the 


328  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

Southern  States  and  a  good  deal  of  badinage  at  the  mess-table. 
My  young  friend  Porcher,  from  South  Carolina,  was  notable  on 
such  occasions  for  his  good-humored  claims  of  Southern  superi- 
ority. Once,  after  we  had  debated  the  matter  for  some  time  he 
said  to  me,  "You  don't  suppose  we  would  ever  allow  the 
Yankees  to  cross  the  Susquehanna  River  ?"  I  replied  that  if 
it  came  to  civil  war,  the  Southerners  would  not  reach  that  river, 
and  from  the  West  an  army  would  march  over  and  drive  them 
from  their  miserable  sand-hills  into  the  sea.  Porcher  was  a 
gallant,  genial  gentleman,  and  two  years  later  it  was  wTith  great 
regret  that  I  read  of  his  loss  at  sea  in  a  gale  of  wind  off  the 
coast  of  Carolina,  while  in  command  of  a  blockade-runner. 

I  mention  these  facts  to  show  that  the  John  Brown  raid  served 
to  intensify  the  determination  of  many  of  the  prominent  Southern 
leaders  to  break  up  the  Union  should  a  "  black  Republican" 
be  nominated  and  elected  President.  This  supposed  offensive 
term  of  "  black  Republican"  was  applied  to  every  one  who  was 
opposed  to  the  extension  of  slave-holding  territory.  It  wras 
trumpeted  at  the  time  of  the  Kansas  troubles  that  the  State  of 
South  Carolina  uniformed  and  armed  a  company  and  sent  it  to 
Kansas  "  to  defend  her  rights"  there.  Although  the  States  of 
the  North  took  no  such  action,  yet  armed  men  went  from  that 
section  to  Kansas  in  sufficient  numbers  to  dispose  of  the  Mis- 
souri and  other  ruffians  whose  object  was  to  force  Kansas  to 
become  a  slave  State, — which  it  could  have  become  only  nomi- 
nally, for  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  it  to  be  one  in  reality, 
since  in  competition  with  the  improved  machinery  and  raising 
the  same  crops  as  the  free  States  adjoining,  the  slave-holders 
would  not  have  been  able  to  feed  and  clothe  their  negroes.  The 
fact  was  then  known  that  New  Mexico  as  a  territory  had  been 
open  for  the  immigration  of  masters  and  slaves  for  a  number  of 
years,  with  an  actual  result  of  eighteen  slaves,  for  the  very  good 
reason  that  the  master  could  not  afford  to  support  the  slaves 
when  their  work  was  in  direct  competition  with  free  labor  em- 
ploying improved  implements  intelligently  which  the  slave  could 
not  do.  Insanity  attacks  peoples  as  well  as  individuals,  and  the 
force  of  active  agents  controls  the  aggregate,  even  when  the  large 
majority  are  reasonable,  if  not  wholly  rational,  as  was  the  case 


FEELING  OF  NAVAL  OFFICERS.  329 

in  North  Carolina,  Virginia,  and  some  other  portions  of  the 
seceding  States.  The  exposition  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens  in 
relation  to  the  situation,  made  before  a  Convention  at  Milledge- 
ville,  Georgia,  November  14,  1860,  is  clear  and  fair  in  relation 
to  the  merits  of  the  question  between  the  sections  and  exposes 
the  utter  lack  of  reason  in  the  secession  movement.  Later  on, 
without  any  change  in  the  situation  except  what  was  due  to 
Southern  violence,  and  although  the  movement  was  entirely 
against  his  advice  and  good  judgment,  we  find  Stephens  Vice- 
President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  until  it  collapsed.  Ten 
years  later  I  had  the  pleasure  of  making  his  personal  acquaint- 
ance, and  I  have  never  met  any  one  in  public  life  who  impressed 
me  more  favorably.  He  was  entirely  national  in  his  sentiments, 
and  looked  at  things  from  a  statesman's  point  of  view. 

From  December,  1860,  when  President  Buchanan  delivered 
his  last  annual  Message,  until  March  4,  1861,  when  his  term 
expired,  in  all  history  no  more  painful  exhibition  of  weakness 
or  of  betrayal  of  high  trusts  can  be  found  than  w^as  presented 
by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet.  Their  endeavors  were  to  make 
the  government  of  the  United  States  as  helpless  as  possible  when 
their  term  of  office  expired.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  dilate 
upon  this  subject ;  those  who  wish  to  see  how  the  vessels  of  the 
navy  were  disposed  of  at  that  time  so  as  to  render  them  ineffec- 
tive will  find  a  statement  in  the  first  chapter  of  "  The  North 
Atlantic  Coast,"  published  by  Scribners,  New  York.  At  that 
time  officers  of  the  navy,  almost  without  exception,  were  naturally 
"  conservative."  They  were  grieved  at  the  prospect  of  a  civil 
war  ;  in  their  opinion  it  would  be  a  war  of  friend  against  friend, 
of  brother  against  brother,  and  of  section  against  section ;  it 
would  be  the  work  of  demagogues  pure  and  simple, — those  of 
the  South  having  able  abettors  in  Northern  agitators  who  called 
themselves  "  patriots."  These  fomenters  of  dissension,  whether 
North  or  South,  were  rarely  found  facing  the  enemy  when  hos- 
tilities broke  out ;  those  yet  alive,  however,  are  patriotically 
fighting  all  the  time,  like  the  scotched  generals  on  both  sides. 

About  the  middle  of  February,  1861,  I  received  a  visit  from 
my  friend  Anderson,  then  mayor  of  Savannah,  Georgia.  He 
found  me  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Mactavish,  widow  of  the  late 


330  THE  0LD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

British  consul  at  Baltimore.  She  was  the  granddaughter  of 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  and  at  that  time  owned  fifty 
slaves  on  her  country-seat  of  one  thousand  acres  twenty  miles 
from  the  city.  Mrs.  Mactavish  was  very  much  befogged  through 
the  political  jargon  of  persons  who  visited  her ;  being  infirm, 
she  rarely  went  out ;  she  asked  Anderson  whether  it  was  true 
that  the  black  Republicans  wished  to  make  her  and  others  con- 
tinue to  support  their  slaves ;  it  was  quite  beyond  her  means  to 
continue  to  support  them,  and  the  demand  was,  she  thought, 
quite  unreasonable.  This  was  so  novel  a  view  of  the  slave 
question  to  my  friend  that  he  could  only  reply  in  vague  terms. 

When  we  were  alone,  he  told  me  that  he  had  come  from  Georgia 
to  Charlottesville  to  the  wedding  of  a  relative,  and  thence  had  con- 
tinued his  journey  to  Baltimore  to  see  me  and  to  talk  over  the 
situation.  The  people  of  the  South  had  already  established  a 
strong  government,  which  would  eventually  embody  all  the  old 
slave  States ;  they  would  have  nothing  further  to  do  with  a  miser- 
able set  of  Abolitionists ;  Lincoln  had  been  elected,  but  would 
never  be  inaugurated ;  the  war  would  never  reach  the  Southern 
States,  for  the  reason  that  the  cities  of  the  North  would  in  great 
part  be  the  field  of  contention,  and  their  streets  would  run  with 
blood ;  Great  Britain  and  France  needed  the  Southern  cotton, 
and  if  an  attempt  were  made  to  blockade  the  Southern  coast 
those  nations  would  not  permit  it,  and  would  in  fact  break  the 
blockade  within  three  months  of  the  attempt  to  establish  it. 
After  expressing  himself  in  this  fashion,  he  looked  at  me 
earnestly,  and,  with  a  good-natured  smile,  asked  what  was  the 
matter  with  me.  I  said  that  when  he  began  to  speak  I  regarded 
him  as  expressing  in  exaggerated  terms  his  indignation  at  the 
Abolitionists  who  did  not  obey  the  eleventh  commandment,  but 
that  as  he  went  on  I  saw  he  was  entirely  in  earnest  :  in  my 
view,  he  was  utterly  and  hopelessly  insane ;  he  had  sailed  as  a 
navy  officer  for  seventeen  years  all  about  the  world,  and,  that 
being  his  view  of  the  situation,  we  certainly  had  before  us  a 
very  serious  time ;  the  North  would  doubtless  suffer,  but  not  a 
tenth  part  of  what  would  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  people  of  tne 
South ;  the  people  of  the  North  were  not  at  all  inimical  to  those 
of  the  South ;  there  was  not  one  man  in  twenty  who  had  even 


LIEUTENANT  POWELL.  331 

a  wish  that  there  should  be  any  interference  with  their  rights, 
or  with  slavery  as  it  existed.  Lincoln  had  been  elected,  and 
would  be  inaugurated,  much  as  my  friend  might  regret  it,  and 
when  it  became  a  question  of  war  between  the  two  sections  he 
would  find  the  people  of  the  North  quite  as  united  as  those  of 
the  South  ;  England  and  France  would  not  interfere,  and  would 
gladly  see  us  destroy  each  other,  as  did  the  Kilkenny  cats,  which 
left  after  the  fight  nothing  but  their  tails.  When  a  war  had 
begun  he  would  find  that  the  nineteen  out  of  twenty  in  the 
North  who  were  now  actually  friendly  to  the  South  would  prac- 
tically be  converted  into  John  Browns,  and  if  the  voluntary 
conversion  of  friends  iuto  foes  was  not  insanity,  I  did  not  know 
what  insanity  was. 

My  friend  had  evidently  expected  a  congenial  response,  know- 
ing as  he  did  that  I  sympathized  with  the  maintenance  of  all 
the  rights  of  the  South,  which  were  in  no  degree  menaced  even 
by  the  election  of  Lincoln,  as  will  be  seen  from  what  Salmon 
P.  Chase  wrote  me,  and  as  indeed  is  supported  by  every  utter- 
ance of  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  up  to  the  time  of  his  famous 
proclamation  declaring  free  the  slaves  in  all  States  in  revolt 
against  the  authority  of  the  government  of  the  United  States 
at  a  given  date.  Nothing,  in  fact,  but  the  hostile  attitude  of 
the  South  could  have  endangered  slavery  as  it  existed  consti- 
tutionally at  that  time.  After  a  pause,  my  friend  said  that, 
holding  such  opinions,  it  was  probable  I  would  be  down  on  the 
Southern  coast  in  some  vessel  trying  to  blockade.  I  said,  "  God 
forbid  that  we  should  have  a  civil  war,  but,  should  it  occur,  that 
is  just  where  I  will  be."  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  the  fol- 
lowing November,  when  I  was  in  command  of  the  gun-boat 
Seneca,  my  vessel  was  the  first  bearing  our  flag  that  crossed 
Tybee  Bar,  twenty  miles  below  the  city  of  which  he  was  mayor 
at  the  time  of  the  conversation  reported  above.  We  differed 
widely  in  our  ideas  on  some  points,  but  remained  personal 
friends — indeed,  almost  like  brothers — until  his  death  in  1883. 

A  few  days  after  this  conversation  I  received  a  letter  from  my 
old  shipmate  and  friend  Lieutenant  William  L.  Powell,  of  the 
navy,  stationed  at  the  Observatory  in  Washington,  urging  me 
to  come  over  and  see  him,  which  I  did  without  delay.     There 


332  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

were  then  on  duty  under  Commander  M.  F.  Maury  seven  lieu- 
tenants all  safe  for  secession  except  one,  who  had  a  secession 
wife,  and  the  secession  wives,  as  we  all  know,  usually  carried 
the  day. 

Powell  said  to  me  that  he  did  not  think  that  Southern  officers 
should  resign  because  Lincoln  had  been  elected  President.  I 
said  that  the  political  condition  was  due  to  demagogues  of  both 
sections,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  we  should  remain  true  to 
our  government.  The  Superintendent  of  the  Observatory  had 
already  convinced  the  officers  under  him  that  we  had  then  a  gov- 
ernment only  in  name,  and  that  after  the  4th  of  March  it  would 
be  one  of  pretension.  He  said  the  Southern  States  that  had 
seceded  had  actually  a  stable  government,  which  would  receive 
accessions  in  all  the  slave  States.  Even  though  all  the  border 
States  did  not  go  out  of  the  Union,  would  they  be  willing  to 
fight  their  Southern  brethren  ? 

One  year  earlier,  on  my  return  home  on  board  of  the  Merri- 
mac,  Thomas  H.  Yeatman,  a  relative  living  near  Cincinnati,  had 
sent  me  letters  of  introduction  to  prominent  men  in  Columbus, 
and  urged  me  to  present  them  as  I  came  home.  As  suggested, 
I  spent  several  days  in  Columbus,  and  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Governor  Dennison,  ex-Governor  Chase,  afterwards  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  and  other  prominent  men.  I  was  received 
cordially  by  these  gentlemen,  and  later  had  reason  to  believe 
that  they  regarded  me  as  more  than  an  ordinary  acquaintance. 
For  that  reason,  after  my  conversation  with  my  friends  Ander- 
son and  Powell  it  seemed  to  me  worth  while  to  communicate  to 
Messrs.  Dennison  and  Chase  the  situation  at  Washington.  It 
was  in  my  belief  imperative  that  Ohio  and  other  large  and 
wealthy  States  should  guarantee  in  large  amounts  whatever  the 
general  government  required  to  replenish  the  exhausted  Treasury, 
and  that  Ohio  should  without  delay  proceed  to  organize  one 
hundred  thousand  men,  one-third  of  whom  should  be  equipped 
immediately,  and  the  others  as  soon  afterwards  as  possible.  I 
received  in  reply  very  earnest  letters  from  both  of  the  gentlemen 
named,  and  soon  after  a  copy  of  Resolutions  passed  by  the 
Legislature  of  Ohio  in  view  of  the  hostile  attitude  of  all  the 
Southern  States  and  the  menacing  expressions  of  many  of  the 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  CHASE.  333 

border  States,  whose  governors  threatened  that  any  attempted 
coercion  on  the  part  of  the  general  government  would  lead  to 
resistance  on  their  part ;  in  short,  preparation  for  war  on  the 
part  of  the  government  would  in  itself  be  considered  a  hostile 
act,  although  large  hostile  forces  were  already  equipped  in  all 
the  Southern  States,  most  of  whom  were  actually  armed  with 
seventy  thousand  muskets  sent  South  specially  months  before 
by  that  arch-traitor  Floyd,  who  when  occupying  the  position  of 
Secretary  of  War  removed  all  the  arms  and  munitions  of  war 
that  he  could  to  the  Southern  States,  that  they  might  be  seized 
and  employed  to  destroy  the  government.  Mr.  Chase  wrote  me 
that  the  fears  expressed  by  Southern  leaders  that  Mr.  Lincoln's 
administration  would  be  hostile  to  them  were  pure  pretexts ; 
every  one  of  them  knew  that  if  Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated 
and  no  hostile  action  occurred,  within  six  months  no  reasonable 
man  in  the  South  would  have  cause  of  complaint ;  hence  the 
haste  to  precipitate  the  country  into  a  civil  war.  •  Under  these 
conditions  it  was  the  duty  of  every  officer  of  the  army  and  the 
navy  to  stand  firmly  by  the  government.  Every  utterance  and 
every  act  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  both  before  and  after  his  inauguration, 
until  his  famous  proclamation  freeing  the  slaves  in  all  the  States 
in  rebellion  after  a  given  date,  attest  the  truth  of  the  assertion 
of  Mr.  Chase  in  his  letter  to  me,  and  were  it  necessary  to 
establish  the  truth  that  pretexts,  and  not  injuries,  brought  about 
the  civil  war,  the  reader  has  only  to  turn  to  the  memorable 
speech  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  at  Milledgeville,  Georgia, 
before  referred  to. 

I  showed  Mr.  Chase's  letter  to  an  influential  friend  in  Balti- 
more, who  said  he  did  not  blame  me  for  attempting  to  apologize 
for  the  government ;  that  Maryland  would  doubtless  go  out  of 
the  Union,  and  in  his  mind  this  would  bar  the  passage  of  troops 
to  Washington.  That  city  would  be  the  capital  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  and  Baltimore  would  become  the  metropolis  of  the 
South.  I  replied  that  the  secession  of  Maryland,  even  if  accom- 
plished, would  not  impede  the  march  of  Northern  troops  to  their 
capital,  which  was  Washington.  An  act  of  secession  of  Mary- 
land and  a  forcible  resistance  in  Baltimore  might  make  that  city 
a  pile  of  brick-bats,  but  certainly  not  the  metropolis  of  the  South. 


334  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

Should  Maryland  pass  an  act  of  secession,  doubtless  many  officers 
from  that  State  would  resign,  and  although  if  promotion  could 
come  only  through  civil  war  I  should  much  prefer  no  higher 
rank  than  I  then  held,  nevertheless,  should  it  occur, — which 
seemed  to  me  inevitable, — I  should  soon  have  all  the  rank  I 
could  desire  even  were  I  ambitious. 

A  meeting  of  the  resident  navy  officers  in  Baltimore  was  called 
just  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  probably  was  attended 
by  nearly  all  of  them;  I  wras  not  invited,  nor  would  I  have 
been  welcome.  It  was  to  "  secure  unanimity  of  action,"  equiva- 
lent to  resigning  in  a  body,  which  was  thus  brought  about,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  of  those  who  attended,  although  Mary- 
land did  not  "  go  out  of  the  Union." 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Beginning  of  the  Civil  War — The  Sixth  Massachusetts  Kegiment  jeered  at 
and  stoned — Secession — Excitement  in  Baltimore — To  Washington  on 
Horseback — Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy — Bladensburg — Black  Horse  Cavalry 
— Commodore  Stringham — On  Duty  as  Executive  Officer  at  the  Navy- Yard 
— An  Ohio  Belle — Aspire  to  the  Command  of  a  Gun-Boat — Lieutenant 
Nelson,  of  the  Navy,  appointed  Brigadier-General  of  Volunteers — His  In- 
fluence in  Kentucky — Colonel  Jacob  Ammen,  commanding  Brigade,  re- 
ports to  General  Nelson — Ammen's  March  to  Savannah,  Tennessee — Goes 
in  Advance,  and  his  Command  the  First  of  Buell's  Army  to  engage  in  the 
Battle  of  Shiloh — The  Killing  of  General  Nelson  by  General  Jefferson  C. 
Davis — General  Kosecrans  tells  a  Story  of  General  Ammen — President 
Lincoln,  accompanied  by  Thurlow  Weed,  visits  the  Navy- Yard— Hand- 
Shaking  by  the  President — Ordered  to  the  Koanoke — A  Wrathy  Captain. 

On  the  19th  of  April  the  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment 
marched  through  Baltimore  from  the  Philadelphia  to  the  Wash- 
ington depot,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles.  It  was  abused, 
jeered  at,  and  attacked  with  sticks,  stones,  and  fire-arms  when 
nearing  the  end  of  the  march,  and  several  of  the  men  were  either 
killed  or  dangerously  wounded.  The  regiment  was  directed  to 
fire  on  its  assailants,  and  killed  some  of  them,  but  not  nearly  as 
many  as  should  have  been  shot ;  of  course  the  mob  then  ran  away 


TO   WASHINGTON  ON  HORSEBACK.  335 

and  made  no  further  trouble.  The  following  night  the  railroads 
leading  out  of  Baltimore  north  and  west  were  cut,  and  the  com- 
mon roads  guarded  by  the  secessionists  of  Baltimore.  On  Satur- 
day, the  day  after  this  attack,  secession  flags  were  flying  over 
every  section  of  the  city  on  public  and  many  private  buildings, 
and  the  Naval  Rendezvous  was  entered  and  the  flag  hauled  down. 
On  Sunday  morning  the  streets  of  Baltimore  north  and  west  of 
Mount  Vernon  Place  presented  a  strange  scene  of  activity,  in 
church-goers  intermingled  with  hundreds  of  men  armed  with 
shot-guns  and  other  fire-arms,  going,  as  they  said,  to  meet  and 
repel  a  Pennsylvania  regiment  in  camp  at  Cockeysville,  that 
had  been  held  there  from  the  railroad  having  been  torn  up  in 
advance  of  them.  How  far  this  mob  went  I  did  not  learn,  but 
have  the  idea  that  only  mounted  scouts,  and  probably  unarmed, 
actually  went  into  the  camp  of  the  regiment.  In  the  evening 
the  current  of  the  mob  set  the  other  way.  It  was  said,  apologet- 
ically, that  the  regiment  was  composed  of  boys  and  was  really 
not  worthy  of  being  attacked.  In  a  day  or  so  the  railroad-track 
was  relaid  and  guarded,  and  troops  soon  passed  over  it  in  such 
numbers  as  were  demanded.  For  some  days  the  railroad  to 
Washington  was  also  disabled.  In  the  mean  time,  until  the 
railroads  were  repaired,  troops  were  sent  from  Philadelphia  to 
Havre  de  Grace,  and  thence,  in  steamboats  provided  for  the 
purpose,  to  Annapolis,  whence  they  marched  to  Washington. 

As  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  get  North,  I  determined  to  turn 
my  face  the  other  way,  and  on  Tuesday  morning  mounted  my 
horse  and  went  on  my  way  to  Washington.  Owing  to  the  late 
hour  of  rising  of  some  of  my  friends,  it  was  eight  o'clock,  and 
very  hot,  when  I  rode  out  of  the  city ;  four  miles  out  the  turn- 
pike passed  over  the  railroad  on  a  bridge,  and  at  the  farther  end 
I  saw  two  men  armed  with  pistols,  who  withdrew  out  of  sight 
to  the  side  of  the  bridge  as  I  advanced.  I  had  a  small  pocket 
revolver,  and  for  convenience  in  carrying  it  had  put  the  chamber 
with  the  cartridges  in  one  pocket  and  the  other  part  of  the  pistol 
in  another.  The  railroad  I  knew  had  a  deep  cut  for  miles  :  had 
there  been  a  detour  of  even  a  considerable  distance  I  should  cer- 
tainly have  made  it  rather  than  face  the  men  with  the  pistols, 
who  I  supposed  were  put  there  to  guard  the  bridge  and  inspect 


336  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

the  passers.  I  was  not  willing  to  turn  back,  and  the  alterna- 
tive was  "  to  face  the  music."  I  rode  on  rapidly,  and,  when  I 
reached  the  far  end  of  the  bridge,  turned  abruptly  towards  the 
men,  and  inquired  in  a  tone  of  authority  what  they  were  doing 
there  with  pistols,  adding  that  I  did  not  know  that  they  were  quite 
safe,  in  the  present  disturbed  condition  of  the  country.  I  did 
not  wait  for  a  reply,  but  turned  abruptly  and  rode  away  rapidly, 
much  better  satisfied  when  they  were  twenty  yards  behind  me 
than  I  had  been  when  I  first  caught  sight  of  them. 

Notwithstanding  the  heat,  I  did  not  spare  my  horse,  and  went 
as  far  as  Contee's  Station,  where  the  railroad  crosses  the  turnpike, 
before  I  saw  anything  unusual.  Here  fifteen  or  twenty  men 
with  muskets,  in  single  file,  were  marching  along  a  path  like  a 
flock  of  geese,  which  I  suppose  was  all  their  instructor  could 
teach  them.  After  the  civil  war  had  ended  I  was  told  that  after 
going  South  they  all  got  home  again,  which  was  not  the  case 
with  very  many  brave  fellows  who  went  South  without  knowing 
exactly  what  they  went  to  fight  about.  Here  I  recall  the  fact 
that  Captain  Ransom,  a  fine-looking  North  Carolinian  who  be- 
longed to  the  United  States  cavalry,  had  been  detailed  to  instruct 
cavalry  companies  that  had  been  formed  in  Prince  George  and 
the  more  southern  counties  on  the  peninsula.  All  this  shows 
that  the  rebellion  had  been  long  premeditated.  Yet  we  hear 
again  and  again  the  unwarranted  assertion  that  the  civil  war  was 
forced  upon  the  South  ! 

Two  miles  farther  on,  at  Yansville,  I  looked  down  from  an 
elevation  of  one  hundred  feet  on  Beltsville,  a  mile  away.  It 
was  the  spot  where  the  Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy  had  encamped 
when  serving  as  a  volunteer  and  marching  to  Bladensburg  to 
participate  in  the  famous  battle  humorously  described  in  his 
memoirs.  The  peach-trees  were  in  bloom,  but  seemed  to  be 
withering  from  the  great  heat.  I  rode  on  to  Bladensburg,  seven 
miles  distant,  and  dismounted  at  a  dirty  country  tavern.  There 
were  here  a  dozen  of  the  Black  Horse  Cavalry  company  of 
Prince  George's  County,  who  had  been  out  the  night  before  along 
the  Annapolis  Railroad  to  intercept  the  Seventh  New  York  Regi- 
ment on  its  march  to  Washington,  the  track  having  been  par- 
tially torn  up.     Their  conversation  gave  me  the  idea  that  their 


ON  DUTY  AS  EXECUTIVE   OFFICER  AT  NAVY- YARD.     337 

skirmish  had  not  been  successful,  and  that  the  regiment  was  still 
on  the  march,  due  in  part,  if  not  wholly,  to  a  number  of  the 
company  being  too  drunk  to  be  effective.  After  dining  on  what 
I  could  get,  I  again  mounted,  and  six  miles'  additional  travel 
brought  me  to  the  navy-yard,  a  good  deal  fagged  from  my  ride 
of  forty  miles  in  the  hot  sun. 

I  lost  as  little  time  as  possible  in  reaching  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment, two  miles  distant,  and  presented  myself  to  Commodore 
Stringham,  then  in  charge  of  the  office  of  detail.  I  informed 
him  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Baltimore,  and  that  I  had  ridden 
over  in  order  to  put  myself  within  reach  of  the  Department,  to 
obey  any  orders  that  might  be  given  me.  Years  before  I  had 
known  him  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard,  and  therefore  did  not 
mention  my  name.  He  said,  "  I  know  you  very  well,  but  cannot 
recall  your  name."  On  my  stating  my  name  and  rank,  he  said, 
"  God  bless  me,  yes  !  but  you  boys  grow  up  so,  it  is  hard  to  keep 
the  run  of  you." 

I  was  given  orders  for  temporary  duty  as  executive  officer  at 
the  navy-yard,  and  reported  forthwith,  and  was  up  and  about  that 
night,  although  much  fatigued.  Bearing  in  mind  the  idea  of 
my  youth,  as  seen  through  the  eyes  of  an  old  officer,  I  went  in  a 
few  days  to  pay  my  respects  to  a  famous  Ohio  belle  who  had 
just  come  to  Washington.  She  politely  inquired  if  I  had  not 
been  to  sea  since  my  visit  to  Columbus  the  year  before.  I  said 
that  I  had  been  attached  to  the  rendezvous  in  Baltimore ;  she 
remarked,  half  apologetically,  that  she  supposed  "  my  sea-going 
days  were  about  over."  This  was  due  to  her  idea  of  my  weight 
of  years,  with  the  natural  infirmities  that  come  with  them,  and 
the  consequent  loss  of  usefulness  afloat.  I  replied  that  I  thought 
my  sea-going  days  were  about  beginning,  as  we  had  a  civil  war 
on  hand  that  had  to  be  fought  out.  Her  remark  gave  me  the 
unpleasant  impression  that  her  estimate  of  age  differed  widely 
from  that  of  the  commodore.  Six  months  afterwards  I  aspired 
to  the  command  of  a  gun-boat,  and  wrote  to  Secretary  Chase, 
laying  before  him  the  two  opposing  views  as  given  above  of 
Commodore  Stringham  and  of  this  bright  young  lady,  and  re- 
marking that  old  commanders  were  striving  for  the  command  of 
the  "ninety -day  gun-boats,"  and  with  Stringham's  ideas  of  youth 

22 


338  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NFAV. 

they  might  get  them ;  if  so,  I  had  the  belief  that  the  commanders 
would  damn  the  gun-boats  and  the  gun-boats  would  damn  the 
commanders,  and  little  else  would  come  of  it.  I  realized  the 
fact  that  I  was  no  longer  a  mere  youth,  and  yet  had  the  conceit 
that  I  was  not  too  old  to  command  a  gun-boat ;  but  I  felt  assured 
that  the  chances  were  that  I  was  rather  too  old  than  too  young 
for  that  work.  Some  months  later  I  did  command  a  gun-boat, 
and  did  not  become  conscious  either  of  the  inexperience  of  youth 
or  of  the  infirmity  of  age  in  the  performance  of  my  duty. 

Having  no  further  use  for  my  horse,  I  sent  him  by  a  servant, 
offering  him  for  sale  at  a  low  figure ;  the  horse  was  purchased  by 
Colonel  Ellsworth,  who  five  days  later  was  killed  at  the  Marshall 
House  in  Alexandria.  My  quarters  at  the  navy-yard  were  with- 
out furniture  other  than  a  dining-table  and  a  wash-stand  and 
basin.  My  bedding  was  a  ship's  mattress  and  hammock,  ready 
"  to  lash  and  carry"  at  any  moment.  All  the  officers  of  my  rank 
who  came  to  the  yard  temporarily  were  invited  to  share  my 
quarters  and  my  table.  This  hospitality  was  a  necessity  for  the 
well-being  of  those  in  transit  or  temporarily  employed.  Recently 
I  have  learned  that  one  of  my  young  guests  regarded  my  table 
as  that  of  a  veritable  gourmet.  This  was  due  perhaps  to  the 
gentleman  being  young  and  strong,  and,  when  with  me,  having 
the  sauce  of  San  Bernardino,  with  which  everything  is  good. 

On  one  occasion  when  I  dined  with  Secretary  Chase,  on  the 
16th  of  September,  1861,  he  told  me  he  had  that  day  had  Lieu- 
tenant Nelson,  of  the  navy,  commissioned  a  brigadier-general  of 
volunteers.  I  remarked  that  there  would  be  a  large  number  of 
brigadiers  who  would  be  found  inferior  to  Nelson.  Little  Miss 
Nettie,  eight  or  ten  years  of  age,  spoke  up,  and  said  "  she  did 
not  like  Nelson ;  he  was  not  a  gentleman ;  he  pinched  her 
arms."  I  told  her  I  thought  that  an  improper  act,  but  never- 
theless Nelson  would  make  a  good  brigadier.  Mr.  Chase  said 
that  Nelson's  personal  influence  among  his  friends  and  relatives 
in  Kentucky  had  been  greater  than  that  of  any  other  person 
known  to  him  in  restraining  that  State  from  passing  an  act  of 
secession. 

Two  months  later,  about  the  last  of  November,  1861,  Colonel 
Ammen,  a  graduate  of  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point 


KILLING  OF  GEN.  NELSON  BY  GEN.  JEFF.  C.  DAVIS.     339 

in  1831,  and  commanding  a  brigade  of  volunteers,  reported  to 
Nelson  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  served  immediately  under 
him  until  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  April  7,  1862.  On  the 
march  of  Buell's  army  to  join  General  Grant  at  Savannah, 
Tennessee,  when  a  delay  occurred  at  Duck  River  through  the 
Confederates  burning  a  bridge,  Nelson  said  to  Ammen  that 
the  water  was  falling  and  the  next  morning  they  would  be  able  to 
ford  the  stream  and  take  the  advance,  and  this  they  did  the  next 
day.  In  the  first  encampment  after  crossing  the  river,  General 
Nelson  said  to  Ammen,  "We  are  not  expected  at  Savannah 
before  [a  given  date  named]/' — equivalent  to  saying  that  they 
would  be  in  the  way,  and  added  that  a  march  of  a  certain  num- 
ber of  miles  daily  would  bring  them  there  at  the  time  stated. 
Ammen  said,  "  We  have  good  roads  and  good  weather  now,  and 
when  on  the  march  the  men  can  make  one-half  more  distance 
per  day  as  well  as  not."  Nelson  replied,  in  the  brusque  manner 
which  was  his  habit,  "You  old  rascal,  you  will  always  have 
your  own  way."  "  Not  at  all,"  said  Ammen  :  "  if  you  are  par- 
ticular that  the  marches  shall  be  just  so  long,  I  will  have  the 
distances  chained,  and  at  the  end  of  each  march  will  pitch  the 
encampment  on  the  top  of  a  hill  where  there  is  no  water,  or  in 
a  swamp  where  there  is  nothing  but  water  and  mud,  as  the  case 
may  be."  The  advance  division  of  Buell's  army  under  Nelson 
arrived  a  day  or  so  in  advance  of  the  time  they  were  "  expected," 
and  on  the  Sunday  morning  of  the  battle  Ammen's  brigade  was 
marched  up  from  Savannah  through  a  swamp  a  distance  of  eight 
miles,  and  taken  across  the  river  by  a  steamboat  before  sunset, 
where  its  presence  was  more  welcome  to  our  forces  than  to  those 
of  the  enemy.  The  rainy  weather  the  first  night  after  crossing 
over,  and  its  continuance  for  several  days,  resulted  in  Colonel 
Ammen's  having  to  go  into  the  hospital. 

On  the  29th  of  September,  1862,  Nelson  was  shot  at  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  by  General  Jeiferson  C.  Davis,  who  was  under 
his  command.  The  shooting  was  the  outcome  of  an  altercation 
in  relation  to  a  requisition  for  arms  or  supplies  which  Davis  had 
presented  for  approval.  Swearing  in  the  old  army  and  navy 
was  a  vulgar  habit  rather  than  an  intentional  profanity,  and 
that  habit  cost  Nelson  his  life  little  more  than  a  year  after  he 


340  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

had  entered  the  army,  where  he  did  admirable  service  and  rose 
to  the  rank  of  major-general.  He  was  thirty-six  years  old,  was 
six  feet  in  height,  heavily  built,  but  not  fleshy,  with  bushy 
black  eyebrows  and  black  hair,  and  a  dark  complexion,  owing 
in  part  to  an  out-door  life.  He  was  an  industrious  reader  and 
deep  thinker,  was  gifted  with  an  excellent  memory,  and  was  very 
fluent  in  the  use  of  language.  He  had  an  indomitable  will  and 
energy,  and  was  not  addicted  to  drink  or  any  other  vice  than 
the  use  of  profane  language.  His  ambition  was  to  be  useful  to 
his  country  rather  than  to  be  great,  and  he  had  a  thoroughly 
honest  purpose.  He  was  a  generous  man  in  his  instincts,  and 
deserved  a  better  fate  than  to  be  shot  down  in  a  wretched  per- 
sonal quarrel. 

After  the  end  of  our  civil  war,  on  some  convivial  occasion 
I  met  General  Rosecrans,  whom  I  had  known  long  before. 
He  told  a  good  story  about  my  brother,  General  Ammen,  of 
whom  mention  has  just  been  made.  Ammen,  he  said,  had  tied 
a  drunken  captain  to  a  tree  and  kept  him  tied  all  night.  When 
I  met  my  brother  I  asked  about  the  matter,  and  was  told 
that  a  volunteer  captain  whom  he  had  promoted  from  the  ranks 
for  gallantry  and  efficiency,  and  whom  he  called  Curse,  because 
he  used  "  curse-words,"  came  to  his  tent  one  night  and  began  to 
swear  at  and  abuse  him  for  some  fancied  wrong.  He  was  told 
that  he  was  drunk,  and  ordered  to  go  to  his  tent.  He  refused 
to  obey,  and  continued  his  abuse.  A  corporal's  guard  was  called, 
and  the  captain  was  tied  to  a  tree  near  by,  where  he  spent  the 
night.  In  the  morning  he  apologized  in  a  manly  way,  and  was 
released.  This  treatment  was  far  more  expeditious,  and  was  a 
better  settlement,  than  a  trial  by  court-martial  would  have  been, 
at  a  time  when  people  had  a  good  deal  more  to  do  than  sit  on 
courts.  Everybody  was  satisfied  with  the  proceeding;  but  it 
could  hardly  be  called  military. 

One  Sunday  morning,  Captain  Dahlgren,  who  was  in  command 
of  the  navy-yard,  told  me  that  President  Lincoln  would  be  down 
in  an  hour,  and  directed  that  the  steamboat  Philadelphia  should 
be  ready  to  take  him  down  the  river.  The  President  came 
accompanied  by  Thurlow  Weed,  and  both  of  them  went  on 
board ;  I  had  never  seen  either  of  them  before.     On  casting 


HAND-SHAKING  BY  THE  PRESIDENT.  341 

loose,  Dahlgren,  on  stepping  on  board,  invited  me  to  accompany 
him.  On  our  way  down  the  river,  just  above  Alexandria  we 
passed  several  steamers  filled  with  troops  bound  for  Washington. 
The  wharves  at  Alexandria  were  crowded  with  people,  and  every- 
where on  the  buildings  the  secession  flag  was  displayed.  Our 
war-vessel  Pawnee  lay  at  anchor  not  far  off,  and  abreast  the 
principal  wharf.  On  Mr.  Lincoln  hearing  the  name,  he  inquired 
if  she  was  not  the  vessel  with  the  curious  bottom  having  bilges 
coming  down  below  the  line  of  the  keel,  and  then  drew  roughly 
on  the  marble  top  of  a  table,  with  a  lead-pencil,  a  cross-section  of 
the  vessel,  and  asked  Dahlgren  whether  the  bottom  was  not  some- 
what like  that,  and  on  receiving  an  affirmative  answer  he  made 
one  of  the  humorous  comparisons  for  which  he  was  so  famous. 

Mr.  Weed  had  something  to  say  to  me  in  relation  to  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  navy,  and  I  told  him  briefly  of  my  visit  to  friends 
at  the  Observatory  which  I  have  chronicled  on  a  preceding  page. 
I  said  they  were  very  adroitly  deceived  ;  the  conviction  had  been 
forced  upon  them  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  had  no  government ; 
all  that  was  virile  was  in  the  South.  Before  resigning  they  had 
looked  upon  the  situation  from  this  illusory  point  of  view ;  with 
an  attachment  for  the  Union,  they  had  been  adroitly  beguiled ; 
they  were  honest,  and  I  had  a  great  deal  of  sympathy  for  them. 
Mr.  Weed  substituted  the  word  "  honorable"  for  honest,  and  I 
suggested  that  the  word  had  been  so  greatly  abused  as  to  have 
lost  its  signification,  and  I  therefore  had  called  them  honest. 
Mr.  Weed  smiled,  and  said  he  quite  agreed  with  me.  He  was 
a  large  well-formed  man  for  his  years,  with  a  large  gray  eye, 
light  complexion,  and  a  heavy,  beetling,  reddish  brow.  A  day 
or  so  later  I  attended  a  Presidential  reception  :  as  I  passed  along 
in  the  procession  and  Mr.  Lincoln  extended  his  hand,  I  remarked 
that  he  was  engaged  in  very  laborious  work ;  he  looked  at  me 
inquiringly :  I  was  unable  to  tell  whether  he  recognized  me  or 
not ;  he  smiled,  and  said,  yes.  Thirty  years  have  passed  since 
then,  the  multitude  at  receptions  has  increased  greatly,  and  yet 
this  senseless  practice  of  the  Presidential  hand-shaking  on  such 
occasions  still  continues. 

Towards  the  middle  of  May  the  navy-yard  was  less  chaotic, 
and  I  was  glad  to  be  ordered  as  executive  officer  of  the  steam 


342  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

frigate  Roanoke,  fitting  out  at  New  York  for  blockading  off 
Charleston. 

I  was  very  busy  during  the  day,  about  the  yard  in  looking 
up  the  outfits  and  seeing  that  they  were  proper,  and  at  other 
hours  in  preparing  the  blank  watch,  quarter,  and  station  bills 
that  are  now  printed  in  form  for  all  classes  of  vessels.  When 
the  Roanoke  was  nearly  ready  to  be  put  in  commission  I  asked 
the  executive  officer  of  the  receiving-ship  if  he  would  be  good 
enough  at  some  convenient  time  to  have  the  draft  of  men 
mustered,  in  order  that  I  could  see  them  and  assign  them 
stations ;  then  when  they  went  on  board  there  would  be  no  con- 
fusion ;  they  would  know  to  what  part  of  the  vessel  and  to  what 
mess  they  belonged.  Somewhat  to  my  surprise,  this  very 
reasonable  request  was  denied,  partly  because  the  executive 
officer  on  a  former  occasion  had  been  attached  to  the  same  vessel 
with  me  and  had  not  stationed  the  men  for  weeks ;  he  had  no  idea 
of  organization.  I  went  to  the  officer  in  command  of  the  station 
and  stated  what  I  desired,  and  asked  that  he  would  give  in- 
structions to  the  officer  in  command  of  the  receiving-ship  to 
give  me  a  list  of  the  men  and  their  ratings  who  were  to  be  sent 
on  board  when  the  Roanoke  would  be  put  in  commission,  and 
would  have  them  "  mustered'7  at  a  convenient  time,  that  I  might 
assign  them  their  duties.  In  a  day  or  so  I  received  a  message 
from  the  captain  of  the  receiving-ship  that  he  wished  to  see  me 
without  delay ;  on  going  on  board  I  was  shown  into  his  cabin, 
and  saw  at  once  that  he  was  in  a  towering  passion.  He  in- 
formed me  that  since  he  had  been  in  the  service  he  had  never 
heard  of  such  a  thing  as  an  officer  being  permitted  to  select  his 
crew  from  a  receiving-ship.     I  said,  "  Captain,  I  think,  if  you 

will  permit  me "     I  was  allowed  to  go  no  further,  and 

there  was  another  denunciation.  After  several  attempts  to  in- 
form him  that  it  was  not  my  intention  to  select  the  men  from 
all  those  on  board  of  the  receiving-ship,  but  only  to  organize 
those  that  might  be  assigned  to  the  Roanoke,  I  grew  impatient, 
and  said,  "  I  understand,  then,  that  I  have  authority  to  select 
the  crew  of  the  Roanoke  from  all  the  enlisted  men  under  your 
charge."  He  said,  "Yes,  sir,  and  it  is  shameful."  "Very 
well,  sir :  if  I  have  that  authority,  be  good  enough  to  have  the 


CAPTAIN    W.  C.  NICHOLSON.  343 

men  mustered,  and  I  will  exercise  it  without  delay ;"  and  I 
proceeded  forthwith  to  organize  the  men.  When  they  stepped 
over  the  side  of  the  Roanoke,  several  days  later,  every  man 
knew  where  to  stow  his  hammock,  what  his  duties  were,  what 
mess  he  belonged  to,  etc.,  having  been  furnished  with  a  slip  of 
paper  containing  this  information  before  he  left  the  receiving- 
ship. 


CHAPTER    XXY. 

Service  on  Board  the  Koanoke  as  Executive  Officer — Captain  W.  C.  Nichol- 
son— Hampton  Roads — Commodore  Pendergrast — Blockade  Duty  off 
Charleston — The  Yandalia — The  Seminole — Return  of  the  Koanoke  to 
Hampton  Koads — Assigned  to  the  Seneca — Naval  Life  as  an  Officer  in 
Command  of  a  Vessel — Admiral  S.  F.  Dupont — Sail  for  Hampton  Roads — 
General  T.  W.  Sherman — Port  Koyal — Charleston — An  Engagement  with 
Steamboats — Commodore  Tatnall — General  Horatio  G.  "Wright — Captain 
John  Rodgers — General  Drayton — A  Naval  Engagement — The  Confeder- 
ates abandon  the  Fort  at  Port  Royal — General  Sherman — Admiral  Dupont 
issues  a  Proclamation — North  Edisto — Burning  Cotton — Rockville — Shell- 
ing Port  Royal  Ferry — The  Black  Colony  at  North  Edisto — Demonstra- 
tion against  Savannah — Hilton  Head — General  R.  E.  Lee. 

The  Roanoke  was  under  the  command  of  Captain  William 
C.  Nicholson,  a  warm-hearted,  gallant  old  officer, — altogether  too 
old  to  command  effectively.  On  my  reporting  to  him  for  duty 
he  looked  at  me  fiercely,  and  said,  "  Very  good,  sir.  I  always 
quarrel  with  my  first  lieutenants."  I  replied  that  I  had  not 
applied  for  the  vessel,  and  had  reported  in  obedience  to  orders, 
with  no  intention  either  to  quarrel  or  not  to  quarrel ;  he  might 
count  upon  my  doing  all  in  my  power  to  make  the  Roanoke  an 
effective  vessel-of-war,  and  beyond  that  I  could  promise  him 
nothing.  A  day  or  two  after  getting  on  board,  we  dropped 
down  and  anchored  off  the  Battery  :  the  captain  usually  went 
on  shore  in  the  evening  and  came  off  early  in  the  morning,  then 
went  on  shore  again  and  came  off  in  the  afternoon.  After  a 
few  days  he  said  to  me  that  he  thought  he  could  go  on  shore 
without  fear  of  disorder  on  board  ship.  I  replied  that  I  saw 
no  reason  why  he  should  not.     He  said,  with  much  emphasis, 


344  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

"  Why,  sir,  I  could  not  do  so  when  in  command  of  a  steam 
frigate  on  the  Asiatic  station.  Why,  sir,  when  I  would  come 
on  board  after  night  I  would  find  the  cabin  full  of  drunken 
officers."  I  assured  him  that  in  his  absence  no  officer  would 
enter  his  cabin,  and  that  should  any  disorder  occur  on  board  I 
would  report  it  without  delay  on  his  return.  He  was  quite 
cheerful  thereafter,  and  left  the  ship  at  will,  stayed  as  long  as 
he  pleased,  and  I  had  no  occasion  to  bring  to  his  notice  any 
misconduct  or  disorder  during  his  absence. 

We  left  for  Hampton  Roads  about  the  end  of  June,  and  a 
day  or  so  after  our  arrival  hoisted  the  flag  of  Commodore  Gar- 
rett J.  Pendergrast,  which  seemed  to  take  the  wind  out  of  the 
sails  of  our  choleric  but  kind-hearted  old  captain.  On  the  10th 
of  July  we  sailed  for  blockade  duty  off  Charleston,  and  on  our 
arrival  lay  a  considerable  distance  farther  from  the  bar  than  we 
should  have  done,  but  the  blockade  nevertheless  would  not  have 
been  more  effective  had  we  anchored  closer.  The  sailing  sloop- 
of-war  Yandalia  was  aiding  us,  and  actually  did  capture  a 
prize,  east  of  Rattlesnake  Shoal,  a  brigantine  whose  captain  was 
quite  stupid.  The  steam  sloop  Seminole  or  some  other  vessel 
would  put  in  an  appearance  to  aid  us  occasionally,  but  they 
spent  most  of  their  time  in  going  to  Hampton  Roads  for  coal 
and  burning  it  on  the  passage  to  Charleston  :  it  never  occurred 
to  their  commanders  that  a  deck-load  of  coal  might  enable  them 
to  reach  Charleston  with  full  bunkers. 

In  September  the  Roanoke  went  to  Hampton  Roads  for  stores. 
We  had  not  been  inert  when  on  the  blockade ;  the  men  were 
well  drilled  at  the  great  guns  and  at  small-arms,  and  we  frequently 
got  under  way  and  took  up  another  berth  after  sailing  around 
for  some  hours.  In  riding  out  several  moderate  gales  at  anchor 
I  gained  my  first  experience  as  to  the  ease  and  safety  with  which 
vessels  may  anchor  in  the  open  sea  when  properly  provided  and 
cared  for.  When  getting  under  way  on  one  occasion  in  a  heavy 
sea-way,  just  as  the  anchor  had  been  hove  up  the  engines  refused 
duty.  The  captain  was  standing  by  my  side  on  the  bridge,  and 
as  the  condition  involved  danger  I  turned  to  him  and  inquired 
if  I  should  do  a  certain  thing.  He  replied  emphatically,  "  No, 
sir,"  and  did  not  state  what  he  wished  done.     I  extricated  the 


HAMPTON  ROADS.  345 

vessel  from  the  dilemma  with  more  difficulty  than  would  have 
been  the  case  had  I  been  allowed  to  use  the  meaus  suggested  for 
the  approval  of  the  captain.  This  experience  left  me  unem- 
barrassed afterwards ;  I  never  asked  the  captain  if  I  should  do 
this  or  that,  when  getting  under  way,  and  he  never  interfered. 

During  our  absence  from  the  North  the  Department  had  con- 
tracted for  the  building  of  eight  or  ten  gun-boats  within  a  period 
of  ninety  days,  and  they  were  about  ready  to  be  put  in  com- 
mission when  we  got  to  Hampton  Roads.  The  commands  of 
these  vessels  were  sought  by  old  commanders  who  had  little  or 
no  knowledge  of  steam  vessels  or  of  shell-guns,  and  who  were 
generally  much  afraid  of  shoal  water.  I  urged  my  claim  of 
which  I  have  already  made  mention,  and  was  assigned  to  the 
Seneca,  soon  to  be  completed  in  New  York,  and  was  detached 
from  the  Roanoke  on  the  12th  of  September. 

Several  of  these  gun-boats  and  other  vessels-of-war  and 
merchant-steamers  converted  to  naval  use,  in  all  some  twenty  in 
number,  composed  the  expedition  under  the  command  of  Rear- 
Admiral  S.  F.  Dupont,  to  effect  a  lodgement  on  the  Southern 
coast  in  order  to  establish  a  more  effective  blockade  and  to  menace 
or  attack  other  points  as  occasion  might  serve.  On  the  17th  of 
October  the  steam  frigate  Wabash,  the  flag-ship  of  Admiral 
Dupont,  left  New  York,  followed  by  eight  or  ten  of  his  com- 
mand, bound  for  Hampton  Roads,  where  other  vessels  were  to 
join  us,  as  well  as  a  large  army  force,  under  the  command  of 
General  Thomas  W.  Sherman.  We  had  a  lot  of  coal-schooners 
to  accompany  or  follow  us.  Their  orders  were  to  be  opened 
only  after  reaching  the  anchorage  off  Tybee.  When  the  fleet 
left,  there  were  forty-nine  vessels  all  told,  of  which  twenty  were 
vessels-of-war,  the  remainder  being  army  transports  of  all 
classes,  and  a  bay  steamer,  called  the  Governor,  that  had  a  bat- 
talion of  marines  on  board. 

Previous  to  sailing  I  got  permission  from  the  fleet-captain  to 
fill  the  coal-bunkers  of  the  Seneca  and  carry  as  much  on  deck  as 
could  be  done  with  safety.  He  said  there  would  be  an  oppor- 
tunity after  arriving  in  Southern  waters  to  fill  up  before  going 
into  action  ;  I  urgedlhat  it  would  lighten  a  heavily-laden  vessel 
and  make  her  more  sea-worthy,  and  we  would  be  able  to  coal 


346  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

now  without  possibility  of  interference,  and  obtained  a  reluctant 
consent.  The  Seneca  was  the  only  vessel  that  went  into  action 
ten  days  later  with  bunkers  nearly  full ;  and  this  was  no  mean 
advantage,  as  officers  who  have  served  before  an  enemy  can 
testify.  There  was  no  reason  why  all  the  vessels  should  not 
have  done  the  same ;  this  would  have  served  to  make  all  the 
coal- vessels  better  able  to  stand  the  heavy  weather  which  they 
had  to  encounter. 

We  had  got  well  south  of  Cape  Henry  about  noon ;  then 
signal  was  made  to  form  line  in  double  Echelon,  the  position  of 
every  vessel  having  of  course  been  previously  assigned,  includ- 
ing army  transports.  With  commanders  of  vessels  without  ex- 
perience in  forming  lines,  a  good  deal  of  time  was  wasted  ;  one  of 
the  ninety-day  gun-boats  made  signal  of  a  disabled  engine,  and 
was  taken  in  tow.  After  forming,  we  went  along  slowly,  on 
account  of  a  strong  head-wind,  and  it  was  thirty-six  hours  before 
we  rounded  Cape  Hatteras,  a  distance  of  only  one  hundred  and 
ten  miles,  at  midnight,  with  great  danger  to  some  of  the  heavy 
transports,  one  of  them  striking  on  the  outer  shoal,  which  caused 
us  to  haul  off  to  the  southeast. 

There  had  been  a  heavy  westerly  set  of  current  not  unusual 
in  that  locality ;  a  day  later  we  encountered  a  heavy  southeast 
gale,  which  blew  with  great  violence  for  twenty  hours.  The 
bay  steamer  Governor  went  down  in  it,  the  battalion  of  marines 
on  board,  with  the  exception  of  several  men  who  were  drowned, 
being  rescued  with  great  difficulty  by  the  frigate  Sabine,  aided 
most  effectively  by  the  Isaac  Smith  j  several  other  vessels  were 
disabled,  and  never  reached  their  destination,  but  there  was  no 
other  loss  of  life. 

I  passed  an  anxious  night  on  the  deck  of  the  Seneca,  looking 
to  windward  in  a  driving  rain,  the  drops  stinging  like  pellets  of 
hail,  and  the  spray  flying  all  over  the  vessel.  The  Seneca  was 
"  laid  to"  on  the  port  tack ;  as  a  matter  of  safety,  I  should  have 
much  preferred  "  lying  to"  on  the  other  tack,  as  a  southeast  wind 
invariably  hauls  to  the  westward  in  that  locality,  but  the  likeli- 
hood of  collision  with  some  other  vessel  of  the  fleet  would  have 
been  much  greater. 

At  about  four  a.m.  I  observed  an  arched  cloud  to  the  north- 


BLOCKADE  DUTY  OFF  CHARLESTON.  347 

west,  and,  as  I  expected,  the  wind  soon  after  flopped  to  the  south- 
west. An  hour  later  I  went  below  to  sleep,  leaving  orders  to 
call  me  at  broad  daylight  if  the  Wabash  was  not  in  sight,  as  I 
would  then  have  to  open  my  confidential  orders.  At  eight  a.m. 
the  wind  had  moderated,  but  the  sea  was  still  quite  rough  ;  the 
flag-ship  was  under  sail  about  six  miles  southeast  of  us ;  we 
wore  ship  when  she  came  up,  and  stood  on  in  her  wake.  In  the 
afternoon  several  of  the  vessels-of-war  joined  us,  and  at  sunset, 
the  wind  having  hauled  to  the  northwest,  the  fleet  tacked  ship 
and  stood  to  the  southwest,  along  the  coast,  which  was  not  in 
sight.  I  then  knew  that  Bull's  Bay  was  not  the  objective  point; 
the  enemy  knew  it  was  Port  Royal  as  soon  as  we  had  left  Hampton 
Roads.     During  the  night  other  vessels  of  the  fleet  joined  us. 

At  noon  on  Sunday  the  flag-ship  made  signal  for  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  Seneca  to  come  on  board  j  I  was  received 
at  the  gangway  by  the  fleet-captain,  who  inquired,  "Do  you 
know  where  we  are  going  ?"  I  replied,  "  No,  but  after  tacking 
yesterday  evening  I  suspected  to  Port  Royal."  He  was  sur- 
prised, and  asked  if  I  had  not  opened  my  confidential  orders ; 
I  said  no,  that  I  had  not  been  separated  from  the  flag-ship.  He 
gave  me  a  letter  to  deliver  to  Captain  Lardner  on  board  of  the 
Susquehanna,  blockading  off  Charleston,  and  added,  "Say  to 
him  that  I  forgot  to  write  that  the  vessels  designated  will  not 
leave  the  blockade  before  dark/' 

I  was  soon  on  the  deck  of  the  Seneca  and  on  our  course  for 
Charleston ;  two  hours  later  the  church-towers  of  the  city  were 
in  sight  from  aloft ;  our  appearance  was  signalled  by  cannon,  as 
the  avant-courrier  of  a  force  that  they  would  gladly  not  have 
seen.  Letters  that  we  took  from  the  Beaufort  post-office  several 
days  later  gave  expression  to  the  hope  that  the  vessels  had  been 
lost  in  the  heavy  gale  we  had  passed  through. 

It  was  four  o'clock,  and  a  delightful  day,  when  I  reached  the 
Susquehanna  and  was  invited  into  the  cabin.  I  gave  the 
captain  the  letter  and  verbal  message,  the  fleet  gossip,  and  news 
in  general  from  the  North.  On  leaving  I  asked  permission  to 
take  the  Seneca  close  up  to  the  bar  off  the  Swash  Channel,  the 
range  of  which  was  St.  Michael's  Church  over  the  northern 
part  of  Sumter.     I  was  familiar  with  the  locality,  as  I  had 


348         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

been  on  the  survey  of  the  bar  ten  years  before.  When  I  reached 
my  point  of  observation  the  sun  was  setting ;  soon  after  I  bore 
away,  made  sail,  and  as  we  passed  near  the  blockading  vessels 
saw  that  several  of  them  were  getting  under  way  for  Port 
Royal. 

A  man  was  kept  in  the  chains  sounding  occasionally  during 
the  night,  in  order  to  keep  near  the  seven-fathom  curve;  at 
daylight  we  were  off  Martin's  Industry  Shoal,  and  soon  after 
sunrise  a  lookout  aloft  discovered  a  black  barrel  buoy,  which 
proved  to  be  the  mark  of  the  entrance  to  the  main  channel  of 
Port  Royal. 

By  eight  o'clock  the  bright  eastern  horizon  was  flecked  with 
many  sails,  and  by  noon  quite  a  fleet  had  anchored  around  the 
Wabash.  Not  being  able  to  make  my  signal  understood,  the 
Seneca  was  got  under  way,  and  the  fact  communicated  verbally. 
At  one  p.m.  several  vessels,  among  them  the  Seneca,  were  sent 
to  sound  and  buoy  the  channel,  and  at  four  all  of  the  fleet 
except  the  flag-ship  and  several  of  the  larger  vessels,  crossed 
the  bar  and  anchored  in  good  holding  ground  some  six  miles 
outside  of  the  headlands  of  Bay  Point  and  Hilton  Head.  The 
Seneca,  Ottawa,  and  Pembina  anchored  about  three  miles  from 
these  headlands,  upon  which  were  seen  the  earthworks  after- 
wards known  to  us  as  Fort  Walker  on  Hilton  Head  and  Fort 
Beauregard  on  Bay  Point. 

Near  sunset  three  steamboats  suddenly  appeared  around  Bay 
Point  and  came  out  under  a  heavy  head  of  steam  towards  the 
flat  ground  lying  to  the  westward  of  our  anchorage  and  opened 
fire  at  us  with  rifled  cannon  at  a  distance  of  nearly  two  miles. 
The  three  gun-boats  named  above  got  under  way,  and,  opening 
fire,  steamed  in  to  intercept  their  return,  whereupon  they  turned 
at  once  and  entered  the  harbor.  The  leading  vessel  flew  the 
flag  of  a  commodore,  afterwards  known  to  us  as  Tatnall's. 

The  next  morning  near  sunrise  the  same  manoeuvre  was 
repeated  by  the  enemy ;  signal  was  made  by  the  Ottawa  to 
several  vessels,  among  them  the  Pawnee,  a  vessel  carrying  a 
heavy  battery,  and  also  the  Pembina  and  the  Seneca,  to  follow 
her  movements.  The  enemy  retreated  as  we  advanced,  his  pur- 
pose being  to  draw  us  within  the  line  of  fire  of  the  forts.     As 


BLOCKADE  DUTY  OFF  CHARLESTON.  349 

we  learned  later,  our  object  was  to  gain  a  more  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  strength  of  the  earthworks  than  we  then  possessed. 
When  we  got  near  the  line  between  the  two  forts,  which  were 
two  and  five-eighths  miles  apart,  both  of  them  opened  fire  on 
us,  and  cut  the  rigging  considerably  of  nearly  all  the  vessels, 
without  hitting  the  hulls.  In  the  mean  time  our  fire  blew  up  a 
caisson  in  Fort  Beauregard,  and,  as  we  learned  afterwards, 
killed  several  men.  Our  object  accomplished,  we  went  out  of 
action  and  anchored.  General  Horatio  G.  Wright,  on  the  staff 
of  General  Sherman,  and  Captain  John  Rodgers,  of  the  navy, 
then  on  the  staff  of  Dupont,  had  been  on  board  of  the  Ottawa  for 
the  purpose  stated.  About  noon  a  steamboat  came  out  on  the 
flats  to  the  west  of  our  anchorage  and  opened  fire  at  long  range 
on  the  Seneca ;  the  sea  was  glassy  smooth,  and  it  was  quite  calm. 
I  directed  the  executive  officer  to  call  the  crew  of  the  eleven- 
inch  gun  to  quarters  and  fire  a  shell  at  ricochet.  He  answered 
at  once  that  he  was  ready,  and  asked  permission  to  fire  at  an 
elevation.  I  said  that  I  would  fire  the  gun  myself,  and,  taking 
hold  of  the  lock-string,  had  the  gun  levelled  and  trained.  The 
shell  skimmed  along  the  water  like  a  duck  ;  the  man  aloft  said 
he  saw  it  strike  the  steamboat,  and  when  we  saw  the  vessel  again 
she  had  a  white  patch  of  plank  on  her  side.  On  receiving  the 
shell  she  turned  and  steamed  directly  into  port.  I  learned 
afterwards  that  it  was  the  flag-ship  of  Tatnall,  and  that  in  his 
temporary  absence,  Captain  Maffit,  mentioned  in  earlier  pages, 
had  gone  out  to  have  a  little  sport  on  his  own  account  when 
about  "  half-seas  over."  The  shell  had  lodged  in  the  hog- 
braces,  and  had  it  exploded  would  probably  have  sunk  the 
vessel. 

About  noon  of  the  5th  of  November,  at  nearly  high  water, 
the  flag-ship  crossed  the  bar  and  anchored  a  mile  or  so  out- 
side of  us.  Signal  was  made  for  officers  commanding  vessels 
to  come  on  board.  Instructions  were  given  those  in  the  main 
line  headed  by  the  Wabash,  then  to  those  commanding  vessels 
in  the  flanking  line  on  the  right.  The  Seneca  was  the  second 
in  the  flanking  line,  and  the  only  vessel  of  the  five  that  had  been 
built  for  war-purposes. 

We  had  barely  time  to  return  to  our  commands  before  signal 


350  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

was  made  to  get  under  way  and  form  lines  j  before  the  latter 
was  effected  the  flag-ship  grounded  on  Fishing  Rip  Shoal,  and 
stuck  there  for  an  hour  or  two,  which  made  it  necessary  for  the 
whole  fleet  to  anchor.  The  next  day  was  so  windy  that  we 
remained  at  anchor.  On  the  day  following  we  made  our  attack. 
I  take  my  introductory  sentence  from  the  official  report  of  Gen- 
eral Drayton,  who  commanded  the  Confederate  forces  :  "  At  last 
the  memorable  7th  dawned  upon  us,  bright  and  serene ;  not  a 
ripple  upon  the  broad  expanse  of  water  to  disturb  the  accuracy 
of  fire  from  the  broad  decks  of  that  magnificent  armada  about  ad- 
vancing in  battle-array,  to  vomit  forth  its  iron  hail  with  all  the 
spiteful  energy  of  long-suppressed  rage  and  conscious  strength." 

At  8.30  the  vessels  were  fairly  in  line ;  the  main  column  was 
the  Wabash,  followed  by  the  Susquehanna,  Mohican,  Seminole, 
Pawnee,  Unadilla,  Ottawa,  Pembina,  and  sailing-sloop  Vandalia, 
in  tow  of  the  Isaac  Smith.  The  flanking  column  on  the  right 
was  the  Bienville,  followed  by  the  Seneca,  Penguin,  Curlew,  and 
Augusta.  The  plan  of  battle  as  given  us,  and  afterwards  pub- 
lished officially,  was  for  the  two  lines  in  close  order  to  pass  in, 
the  main  line  directing  its  fire  against  Fort  Walker  on  Hilton 
Head  and  the  flanking  line  on  Fort  Beauregard  on  Bay  Point. 
When  well  beyond  the  works  the  Wabash  would  turn  towards 
Hilton  Head,  followed  by  the  main  line,  and  would  pass  around 
again  and  again,  and  when  in  face  of  the  fort  go  very  slowly, 
delivering  their  fire.  The  flanking  line  was  to  dispose  of  any 
force  afloat,  and  then  to  take  up  an  enfilading  position  north  and 
west  of  Fort  Walker.  When  our  orders  were  given  verbally 
by  Dupont  he  said  he  knew  Tatnall  well,  he  was  an  officer  of 
courage  and  resources,  and  it  was  not  unlikely  that  he  would 
endeavor  in  the  confusion  of  battle  to  pass  out  for  the  purpose 
of  destroying  the  army  transports  that  lay  within  the  bar.  The 
senior  officer  of  that  line  made  no  reply ;  after  a  brief  pause  I 
said  that  Tatnall  could  not  do  that ;  if  the  Seneca  got  within 
one  thousand  yards  of  his  vessels  he  would  be  destroyed ;  they 
were  very  weak,  and  a  ricochet  fire  could  hardly  miss  them  in 
smooth  water.  The  flag-officer  said  he  was  pleased  to  hear  me 
speak  so  confidently,  and  approved  of  my  ricochet  firing. 

When  we  went  in,  Tatnall  was  on  hand  with  four  or  five 


A   NAVAL  ENGAGEMENT.  351 

steamboats,  and  opened  fire  from  about  the  line  between  the  two 
forts ;  but  the  Wabash  yawed  and  fired  a  broadside  at  them, 
which  caused  them  to  move  off  rapidly. 

When  the  Wabash  had  passed  well  above  Fort  Walker  and 
turned  towards  Hilton  Head,  followed  by  the  Susquehanna,  the 
Bienville,  the  head  of  the  flanking  column,  turned  also,  instead 
of  pursuing  and  disposing  of  Tatnall  and  then  taking  up  an 
enfilading  position  north  of  the  fort,  as  instructed  j  later  on,  she 
passed  into  the  main  line  ahead  of  the  Mohican,  and  perhaps 
so  disturbed  the  equilibrium  of  Godon,  who  commanded  the 
Mohican,  as  to  make  him  take  up  an  enfilading  position,  which 
caused  the  vessels  following  the  Mohican  to  do  the  same.  Their 
fire  was  doubtless  effective,  but  it  was  not  as  arranged  in  the 
plan  of  battle. 

While  the  Bienville  joined  the  other  line,  and  pushed  in  ahead 
of  the  Mohican,  the  Seneca  pursued  Tatnall's  vessels  until  they 
were  nearly  abreast  of  Skull  Creek,  and  fired  several  eleven- 
inch  shells  at  them  ineffectively.  The  vessel  was  then  turned 
towards  the  fort,  in  order  to  carry  out  instructions  as  before 
stated,  but  no  sooner  had  she  turned  than  Tatnall's  vessels 
turned  also.  It  may  be  that  he  thought  the  vessels  were  in 
retreat  from  the  effects  of  the  fire  delivered  from  the  forts. 
The  Seneca  was  again  turned  towards  Tatnall's  steamboats,  and 
he  saw  that  he  had  to  try  conclusions  if  he  kept  on,  and  there- 
fore thought  it  worth  while  to  enter  Skull  Creek. 

As  soon  as  his  vessels  had  disappeared  behind  a  wooded  point 
the  Seneca  was  again  turned  towards  the  fort,  and  as  she  was 
passing  along  half  a  mile  from  the  wooded  shore-line,  a  body 
of  Confederate  troops  indiscreetly  opened  fire  with  small-arms. 
A  thirty-pounder  rifle  was  directed  at  the  smoke  in  the  edge  of 
the  wood,  and,  as  we  learned  afterwards,  several  of  the  men 
were  killed  or  wounded. 

We  were  soon  delivering  an  effective  enfilade  fire,  when  the 
Pawnee  took  position  and  fired  right  over  us,  a  sabot  flying  on 
board.  The  Seneca  was  then  taken  in  as  near  the  shore  as  the 
depth  of  water  would  permit,  and,  drifting  with  an  ebb  tide, 
was  soon  within  effective  range  of  an  eight-inch  bronze  howitzer 
in  broadside.      The  eleven-inch  pivot  and  the  thirty-pounder 


352  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

rifle  that  had  been  in  use  throughout  the  engagement  were  active. 
On  a  visit  to  the  fort  after  its  abandonment  by  the  enemy  I 
could  not  but  wonder  that  our  fire  had  not  blown  up  cartridges 
and  loaded  shell  that  were  exposed  to  our  line  of  fire. 

During  the  engagement  a  rifle  on  an  angle  of  the  fort  that 
was  directed  at  us  several  times  was  finally  disabled  and  then 
we  were  actually  let  alone.  The  guns  in  the  sand  forts  were 
in  great  part  disabled,  and  the  traverses  covered  in  partially 
with  sand.  A  concise  account  will  be  found  in  "  The  Atlantic 
Coast,"  published  by  the  Scribners,  New  York,  1883,  and  also 
of  whatever  other  operations  may  be  mentioned  in  this  writing. 

The  fort  was  abandoned  at  about  one  p.m.,  after  having  endured 
the  fire  of  the  fleet  for  four  hours.  On  leaving,  the  men  marched 
to  Skull  Creek  Landing,  a  distance  of  six  miles.  Along  the 
road  they  left  field-artillery  and  a  considerable  number  of  small- 
arms.  About  four  o'clock  I  went  on  shore,  and  when  I  was 
looking  over  the  works  a  black  man  approached  from  the  hos- 
pital buildings ;  he  informed  me  that  he  was  the  body-servant 
of  General  Drayton,  the  commander  of  the  Confederate  forces 
defending  Port  Royal.  I  took  him  to  the  flag-officer  without 
delay,  and  said  that  from  the  information  it  would  be  worth 
while  to  send  the  Seneca  into  Skull  Creek  to  intercept  the 
troops  that  were  then  embarking  at  the  landing.  The  flag- 
officer  said  that  the  entrance  was  intricate,  and  directed  me  to 
take  the  Seneca  over  to  Bay  Point  to  communicate  with  the 
Seminole,  and  in  the  event  of  the  abandonment  of  Fort  Beaure- 
gard to  hoist  our  flag  over  it  at  sunrise.  The  Seneca  left  as 
directed ;  it  was  growing  dark,  and  when  near  the  point  I 
looked  in  vain  for  the  Seminole ;  she  had  gone  up  Broad  River, 
as  I  learned  the  next  morning.  Not  wishing  to  miss  her,  I  had 
steam  lights  placed,  and  stood  in  so  near  that  the  bow  of  the 
vessel  grounded  on  the  Bay  Point  beach,  which  was  abrupt ;  the 
traverses  and  embrasures  of  the  fort  were  then  seen  outlining 
the  horizon  one  hundred  yards  distant.  We  had  a  strong  flood 
tide,  and  by  sending  the  crew  aft  on  a  run,  and  backing  the 
engine,  the  vessel  was  got  off,  after  which  no  time  was  lost  in 
reaching  the  flag-ship  and  stating  the  facts.  I  was  directed  to 
get  under  way  at  early  daylight,  proceed   to  Bay  Point,  and, 


GENERAL   T.    W.  SHERMAN.  353 

should  the  Seminole  not  be  found,  to  make  a  reconnoissance, 
and  if  the  fort  was  abandoned  to  land  and  hoist  our  flag. 

Soon  after  sunrise,  I  landed  with  thirty  armed  men  and 
went  to  the  flag-staff  on  the  end  of  a  small  frame  house  a  few 
yards  outside  of  the  earthwork.  I  entered,  and  noticed  several 
official  blank-books  lying  on  a  rough  table,  then  passed  out  and 
walked  towards  a  strip  of  pine-trees  lining  the  sea-beach  several 
hundred  yards  distant.  A  few  minutes  later  I  heard  an  ex- 
plosion, and  saw  a  huge  volume  of  smoke  ascend  where  the  flag 
had  been  hoisted,  but  flag  and  house  had  disappeared.  A  sailor 
walking  near  by  had  struck  a  wire  stretched  along  and  ignited 
a  spur  tube  that  had  been  placed  in  a  quantity  of  loose  powder 
under  the  house.  A  similar  arrangement  had  been  prepared  to 
blow  up  the  magazine,  but  was  discovered  on  examination 
through  the  warning  given  us  by  what  had  occurred.  At  noon, 
under  instructions,  I  turned  the  fort  over  to  General  I.  I. 
Stevens,  and  two  hours  later  went  up  Beaufort  River,  with 
General  Thomas  W.  Sherman  on  board,  the  commander  of  the 
ten  thousand  troops  co-operating  with  the  naval  force. 

The  object  in  going  up  the  river  was  to  see  if  any  defensive 
works  existed.  Nothing  was  found;  but  when  looking  for 
such  works  it  is  surprising  to  see  how  many  natural  features 
here  and  there  have  similitude  to  them.  The  general  was  much 
pleased  with  a  fine  barge  towing  at  the  boom  that  had  belonged 
to  Tatnall  and  had  been  found  by  me  on  the  marsh  that  morn- 
ing :  he  said  it  was  just  such  as  he  would  have  bought  had  he 
not  been  hurried  when  leaving  New  York.  I  told  him  it  was 
at  his  service,  and  sent  it  to  him  the  following  morning,  with 
oars  and  complete  in  fitments. 

The  next  morning  the  Seneca  was  sent  to  Beaufort,  with  the 
Pembina  and  Penguin  as  backers ;  the  distance  was  about  fifteen 
miles,  and  no  defensive  works  were  found.  On  our  reaching 
the  wrharf  several  mounted  men  rode  away.  Hundreds  of 
negroes  were  on  the  wharf  and  on  the  streets ;  all  the  scows 
wrere  in  requisition,  and  were  being  loaded  with  furniture  and 
personal  effects  of  all  kinds,  provisions,  and  lumber  to  erect 
sheds  elsewhere ;  on  the  part  of  the  negroes  it  was  an  exhibition 
of  wild  confusion  and  great  joy ;'  they  imagined  that  they  were 


354  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

setting  out  on  a  picnic  for  life.  Only  one  white  man  was 
found ;  he  was  sitting  at  the  post-office,  and  was  brought  on 
board  of  the  Seneca.  As  directed,  I  gave  assurances  to  him  that 
all  white  peaceable  inhabitants  who  would  remain  at  home  would 
be  protected  in  life  and  property.  The  poor  fellow  seemed  to  be 
utterly  dazed,  and  hardly  comprehended  the  import  of  my  words. 
He  was  sent  on  shore,  and  nothing  more  was  seen  of  Mr.  Allen. 

We  returned  to  Port  Royal  without  delay,  and  reported  the 
facts  to  the  flag-officer.  The  negroes  said  that  all  the  whites 
had  left  the  island,  and  that  many  slaves  had  been  shot  by  their 
masters  while  making  an  attempt  to  escape  when  being  driven 
to  Port  Royal  Ferry  to  be  taken  to  the  mainland. 

Early  the  next  day  Admiral  Dupont  came  on  board  of  the 
Seneca,  and,  accompanied  by  several  gun-boats,  went  to  Beaufort. 
The  head-quarters  of  General  Drayton  were  visited,  and  a  coast 
chart  found  that  proved  of  great  value ;  upon  it  were  marked 
all  the  defensive  works  in  his  department,  and  the  guns  in 
position,  in  red  pencil ;  it  would  have  been  complete  had  it  con- 
tained the  calibre  of  the  guns  and  a  description  of  the  construc- 
tion of  the  works. 

The  flag-officer  employed  all  his  available  force  in  visiting 
these  localities  as  soon  as  possible  ;  nevertheless  the  enemy  man- 
aged to  carry  off  most  of  the  guns  that  were  of  use,  except  those 
on  Hilton  Head  and  Bay  Point,  amounting,  all  told,  to  fifty-two, 
as  stated  by  General  Sherman,  to  whom  they  were  turned  over. 
He  stated  that  eight  or  nine  of  them  had  been  ruined  or  dis- 
mounted by  our  fire.  The  enemy  reported  eleven  killed  on 
Hilton  Head,  thirty-five  wounded,  and  four  missing  j  at  Fort 
Beauregard,  thirteen  wounded.  On  board  of  the  fleet  eight  men 
were  killed  and  twenty-three  wounded. 

Admiral  Dupont  issued  a  proclamation  stating  that  all  peace- 
able inhabitants  who  would  remain  at  their  homes  would  be 
protected  in  life  and  property  ;  only  one  family,  on  Parry's 
Island,  remained,  and  that  for  but  a  few  weeks,  being  then 
compelled  to  leave  by  the  threats  of  their  Southern  friends, 
who  regarded  any  contact  with  us  as  likely  to  produce  serious 
defection,  inasmuch  as  we  were  not  at  all  inimical  to  them  as 
individuals. 


COMMANDER  RODGERS 'S   VISIT  TO   WARSAW  SOUND.      355 

On  the  24th  of  November,  Captain  John  Rodgers,  in  command 
of  the  Flag,  accompanied  by  the  Seneca  and  the  Pocahontas, 
was  sent  to  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River  ato  push  his 
reconnoissance  so  as  to  form  an  approximate  estimate  of  the 
force  on  Tybee  Island  and  of  the  possibility  of  gaining  an 
entrance."  On  our  arrival  we  found  the  bar  quite  rough,  and  a 
fresh  breeze  from  the  sea.  The  ranges  for  entering  having  been 
destroyed,  Rodgers  came  on  board  of  the  Seneca,  which  had  a 
less  draught  than  the  Flag,  and  crossed  the  bar,  the  rough  water 
being  an  advantage  in  showing  the  shoaler  parts  of  the  bar. 
When  we  got  within  range  of  the  batteries  the  Seneca  opened 
fire,  and  found  they  had  been  abandoned.  This  surprised  us, 
as  General  Drayton's  chart  showed  them  to  be  favorably  located 
for  defence,  and  with  a  sufficient  number  of  guns  to  have  made 
a  stout  resistance.  The  Seneca  was  sent  immediately  to  Port 
Royal  to  report  the  facts,  and  Rodgers  took  the  Flag  and  the 
Pocahontas  into  Tybee  Roads,  where  some  of  our  vessels  re- 
mained until  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  reader  may  recall  a  conversation  of  mine  with  the  mayor 
of  Savannah  in  Baltimore  the  previous  February.  Either  his 
term  of  office  had  expired,  or  he  had  resigned ;  and  he  had  gone 
abroad,  purchased  the  Fingal,  a  large  iron  steamer,  loaded  her 
with  munitions  of  war,  and  brought  her  to  Savannah  by  way 
of  the  Ogeechee  River,  which  he  entered  a  few  days  after  our 
capture  of  Port  Royal. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  Commander  C.  R.  P.  Rodgers 
left  Tybee  Roads  on  board  of  the  Ottawa,  followed  by  the 
Seneca  and  Pembina,  to  visit  Warsaw  Sound,  where  we  found 
an  abandoned  fort  as  marked  on  the  chart ;  the  eight  guns  had 
been  carried  away  ;  from' the  mouth  of  Wilmington  River,  bear- 
ing about  west- northwest,  three  miles  distant,  we  saw. a  large 
encampment,  with  five  guns  facing  us,  and  one  on  another  face. 
We  afterwards  crossed  Ossabaw  Bar  and  examined  the  Ogeechee 
and  Vernon  Rivers.  We  saw  an  incomplete  earthwork  on 
Green  Island,  then  mounting  eight  guns,  with  a  derrick  in  place 
for  further  construction.  A  large  number  of  tents  were  seen 
here  also.  The  enemy  threw  a  heavy  shell  from  a  smooth-bore 
at  the  Pembina,  which  fell  far  short ;  a  large  rifle  shell  thrown 


356  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE   NEW. 

at  the  Seneca  had  admirable  elevation,  but  the  time  of  flight  of 
the  shell  put  us  far  enough  ahead  of  the  projectile  to  insure  our 
safety. 

Soon  after  our  return  to  Port  Royal  the  Seneca  was  sent  with 
the  Pawnee,  under  Commander  Drayton,  a  brother  of  the  Con- 
federate general,  to  pay  a  visit  to  North*  Edisto,  where  ten  years 
before  I  had  been  engaged  on  the  survey  of  the  bar  and  harbor. 
As  we  entered  we  shelled  an  earthwork  that  had  been  abandoned, 
and  on  examination  we  found  that  ten  guns  had  been  removed. 
It  had  two  redoubts,  well  constructed,  with  a  long  covered 
curtain  connecting  them. 

No  sooner  had  our  guns  been  heard  in  the  surrounding  country 
than  we  saw  numbers  of  dense  columns  of  white  smoke  going 
up  into  the  clear  blue  sky ;  the  stupid  people  were  burning  their 
cotton-houses  in  localities  that  were  never  visited  by  our  forces 
during  the  war.  The  Seneca  was  sent  up  the  river  to  White 
Point,  and  in  chasing  a  small  sail  got  aground  near  high  water, 
and  was  held  fast  for  thirty-six  hours.  The  passing  up  of  the 
vessel  greatly  alarmed  Colonel  Branch,  who  abandoned  his  tents 
and  some  other  stores  at  their  encampment  a  mile  back  of  Rock- 
ville.  His  report  states,  "  It  is  needless  to  say  that  had  no  demon- 
stration been  made  to  cut  us  off  from  John's  Island,  no  retreat, 
save  beyond  the  reach  of  the  enemy's  shells,  would  have  been 
ordered,  unless  a  heavy  force  had  been  landed  at  Rockville." 

The  following  day  Drayton  landed  a  force  at  Rockville  and 
captured  forty- four  Sibley  tents  and  other  stores.  The  negroes, 
knowing  of  the  hasty  retreat  of  the  two  hundred  and  ninety 
rifles,  as  Branch  styled  his  force,  doubtless  possessed  themselves 
of  all  the  provisions  they  could  carry  away  and  secrete. 

A  large  number  of  slaves,  men,  women,  and  children,  came 
to  Rockville  and  located  finally  on  a  belt  of  wood  along  the 
sea-coast  of  North  Edisto  Island,  having  between  it  and  the 
solid  land  a  broad  marsh,  which  afforded  them  fair  protection 
against  a  raid  from  the  Confederates.  The  Penguin,  that  had 
been  maintaining  a  blockade  off  the  bar,  was  brought  in  and 
given  supervision  of  this  colony.  Later  on  I  was  sent  for  some 
days  to  regulate  matters  at  North  Edisto,  and  on  returning  to 
Port  Royal,  as  instructed,  found  that  an  attack  was  to  be  made 


THE  BLACK  COLONY  AT  NORTH  EDISTO.  357 

on  batteries  the  enemy  were  establishing  on  Whale  Branch,  and 
near  Port  Royal  Ferry,  intending  to  come  over  and  endeavor  to 
capture  a  regiment  that  General  Sherman  had  placed  on  Port 
Royal  Island.  A  considerable  force  was  sent  from  the  fleet  to 
co-operate  with  General  Sherman,  and  the  Seneca  was  sent  up 
Whale  Branch,  seconded  by  the  Ellen,  a  Brooklyn  ferry-boat 
converted  into  a  war-vessel,  and  carrying  heavy  guns,  to  attack 
a  battery  which  was  found  under  construction,  but  with  no  guns 
in  position.  Captain  Elliott,  of  the  Seventy-ninth  Highlanders, 
who  came  from  the  island,  was  directed  to  co-operate  with  me. 
He  went  over  with  a  force  of  three  hundred  men  and  destroyed 
platform  and  magazine.  When  this  was  effected,  as  directed, 
the  Seneca  proceeded  towards  Port  Royal  Ferry,  but  at  the 
divide  of  the  tides  got  aground,  remaining  there  until  the  fol- 
lowing day,  when  we  got  over  and  took  part  in  shelling  a  con- 
siderable force  of  the  enemy  that  we  saw  from  our  mast-heads 
some  distance  in  the  interior.  A  colonel  whose  name  I  cannot 
recall  was  good  enough  to  send  me  a  box  of  wine  in  acknowl- 
edgment of  shells  thrown  where  they  had  done  the  most  good. 
The  enemy  was  driven  oif  with  no  great  loss,  and  had  carried 
off  all  his  guns  save  one.  He  made  no  further  demonstration 
against  the  island. 

After  this  affair  the  Seneca  was  sent  to  North  Edisto,  to 
regulate  the  black  colony.  It  had  increased  to  more  than  one 
thousand,  although  transportation  was  given  all  who  wished 
to  go  to  Port  Royal  by  the  passing  gun-boats.  They  had  a 
number  of  scows,  and  local  knowledge  of  where  sweet  potatoes 
had  been  buried  for  winter  use,  and  where  cattle  were  to  be 
found,  and  had  ample  time  to  help  themselves  to  all  that  could 
be  picked  up.  There  was  abundance  of  raccoon  oysters,  fish, 
and  the  heart  of  the  palmetto,  which  makes  a  very  good  substi- 
tute for  cabbage.  They  had  made  themselves  shelter  with 
boughs  of  palmetto  leaves,  and  until  spring  opened  had  abun- 
dance of  provisions,  and  then  they  went  to  Port  Royal  to  work 
on  the  abandoned  plantations. 

Ten  days  later  the  Seneca  was  one  of  half  a  dozen  vessels  that 
had  passed  through  Skull  Creek  close  to  the  Savannah  River, 
and  near  where  Mud  Creek  empties  into  that  river.     The  army 


358  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

was  planting  a  masked  rifle  battery  on  Venus  Point,  near  by, 
to  command  the  river  between  Fort  Pulaski  and  Savannah.  I 
was  sent  to  ascertain  whether  we  could  get  through  Mud  Creek 
if  we  wished  to  enter  the  river,  and  found  that  we  could  do  so 
with  a  spring  tide  and  southeast  wind,  when  one  can  go  almost 
anywhere  with  vessels  of  light  draught  between  the  marshes  in 
that  region. 

The  Seneca  was  recalled  to  Port  Royal,  and  on  the  26th  of 
January  went  under  Fleet-Captain  Charles  H.  Davis,  who  was 
on  board  of  the  Ottawa,  to  make  a  demonstration  against 
Savannah,  the  object  being  to  make  the  enemy  evacuate  Fer- 
nandina  and  other  points  farther  south.  We  had  as  a  part  of 
the  naval  force  the  Smith,  Potomska,  Ellen,  and  Western  World, 
all  insignificant  in  strength,  and  the  army  transports  Cosmopoli- 
tan, Delaware,  and  Boston,  having  on  board  the  Sixth  Connec- 
ticut, Fourth  New  Hampshire,  and  Ninety-seventh  Pennsylvania 
Regiments,  numbering  two  thousand  four  hundred  men,  under 
General  H.  G.  Wright.  We  entered  Warsaw  Sound  the  same 
evening ;  early  the  next  morning  General  Wright  and  aide  went 
on  board  of  the  Ottawa,  and  two  companies  of  the  Sixth  Con- 
necticut were  sent  on  board  of  the  Ottawa  and  Seneca,  and  we 
got  under  way  and  went  into  Tybee  River.  Owing  to  shoal 
water,  it  was  half-past  eight  before  we  got  in,  and  half-past  one 
p.m.  before  we  reached  the  point  nearest  Fort  Pulaski  on  the 
land  side,  two  thousand  yards  distant.  No  heavy  guns  were 
mounted  on  that  side  of  the  fort,  and  great  preparations  were  in 
progress  to  transport  them  to  bear  on  us.  On  reaching  that 
part  of  the  river  nearest  to  the  high  land  on  Wilmington  Island 
our  progress  was  temporarily  prevented  by  a  double  row  of 
heavy  piles  across  the  channel.  They  were  not  difficult  to 
remove,  however. 

The  vessels  anchored,  and  sent  boats  to  examine  the  upper 
part  of  the  river  and  the  adjacent  creeks.  Observing  a  tele- 
graph wire  on  Long  Island,  a  long  marsh  lying  between  us  and 
the  river  Savannah,  I  went  on  board  of  the  Ottawa  and  reported 
the  fact  to  the  fleet-captain,  who  directed  a  junior  officer  com- 
manding a  gun-boat  to  cut  it,  and,  turning  to  me,  laughingly 
remarked,  "  I  suppose  you  are  sorry  now  that  you  did  not  cut 


HILTON  HEAD.  359 

it."  I  said  no ;  I  thought  it  proper  to  bring  it  to  his  notice 
first.  An  hour  or  so  later,  I  saw  the  officer  returning  who  had 
been  sent  to  cut  the  wire,  and  hailed  him  to  ask  if  he  had  cut 
it.  He  replied  he  had  not, — that  he  had  not  been  able  to  get  at 
it.  My  gig  was  immediately  called  away,  and  an  axe  and  shears 
passed  into  the  boat.  I  pulled  along  the  marshy  island  until  a 
slough  was  found,  then  "  poled"  the  boat  in  by  means  of  the 
oars  as  far  as  she  would  go,  and  then  took  to  the  marsh,  on  foot, 
where  the  mud  was  knee-deep,  and  in  fifteen  minutes  the  wire 
was  cut  in  several  places  and  the  poles  cut  down. 

I  then  went  on  board  of  the  Ottawa  aud  reported  that,  having 
been  informed  of  the  fact  that  the  officer  sent  to  cut  the  wire 
had  not  succeeded  in  doing  so,  I  had  gone,  and  had  brought  pieces 
of  the  wire.  The  destruction  of  telegraphic  communication 
with  Pulaski  greatly  alarmed  the  people  in  Savannah.  At  five 
p.m.  Tatnall  with  five  Confederate  steamers  anchored  in  sight  at 
the  mouth  of  St.  Augustine  Creek,  several  miles  above  us,  in 
the  direct  water-way  to  Savannah,  where  we  could  have  gone 
had  we  been  ordered  to  do  so,  as  the  removal  of  the  piles  was 
easily  effected.  Tatnall's  official  reports  show  that  nothing  lay 
in  our  way  had  we  eudeavored  to  go  to  the  city,  except  his 
force,  which  could  have  opposed  no  effective  resistance.  General 
Wright,  as  directed,  made  a  reconnoissance  of  Wilmington  Island. 

Ever  since  the  8th  of  November  the  army  had  been  com- 
pleting a  very  well  constructed  intrenched  camp  on  Hilton 
Head  Island,  bordering  on  the  deep  water  of  the  harbor  for  a 
mile  and  extending  a  considerable  distance  in  the  interior.  The 
army  had  its  orders  from  Washington,  and  either  General  Sher- 
man had  the  belief  that  this  was  judicious  or  the  War  Depart- 
ment insisted  upon  this  being  carried  out,  instead  of  making  use 
of  the  time,  as  might  have  been  done  with  signal  advantage. 
Although  after  our  taking  Port  Royal  we  had  very  few  eleven- 
inch  shells,  which  were  the  vital  force  of  the  gun-boats,  we  still 
had  enough  to  enable  us  to  go  through  Skull  Creek  and  put  the 
army  in  possession  of  Savannah,  had  it  desired  our  co-operation 
in  that  matter.  There  would  have  been  nothing  in  the  way 
but  Fort  Jackson,  a  little  old  brick  fort  that  would  have  been 
knocked  down  by  half  a  dozen  heavy  shells. 


360  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

About  eleven  a.m.  on  the  28th  of  January  five  Confederate 
vessels  with  scows  in  tow  endeavored  to  pass  down  the  river  to 
Pulaski.  The  low  water  prevented  their  vessels  from  being  seen 
from  the  decks  of  the  gun-boats  lying  close  to  the  marsh  in  a 
narrow  creek,  and  thus  favored  their  safe  passage.  Captain 
Rodgers's  force  of  half  a  dozen  gun-boats  was  three  statute  miles 
distant  from  us,  as  measured  on  a  good  chart. 

The  object  of  the  enemy  was  doubtless  to  carry  necessary 
supplies  to  the  fort  should  we  cut  off  further  communication 
between  it  and  the  city.  On  their  return  they  chose  dead  low 
water,  which  brought  the  gun-boats  on  both  sides  so  far  below 
the  marshes  as  to  prevent  the  steamboats  being  fired  upon  with 
effect. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  29th,  the  Ottawa,  followed  by 
the  Seneca  and  other  gun-boats,  got  under  way,  and  passed  near 
Fort  Pulaski  an  hour  or  so  later,  and  by  early  dawn  to  the 
army  transports  we  had  left  at  anchor  in  Warsaw  Sound. 

Captain  Rodgers  with  his  gun-boats  remained  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  and  the  army  transports  in  Warsaw  Sound,  as 
a  menace  to  Savannah  until  we  were  ready  to  move  on  Fernan- 
dina,  our  intended  point  of  attack,  agreed  upon  by  the  flag- 
officer  and  General  Sherman.  For  this  purpose  the  flag-ship 
Wabash  left  Port  Royal  on  the  28th  of  February,  and  on  the  2d 
of  March  anchored  off  St.  Andrew's  Inlet,  twenty  miles  north 
of  Fernandina,  with  an  interior  water-communication  between 
them  known  as  Cumberland  Sound,  capable  of  passing  vessels 
at  ordinary  high  tides  of  twelve  feet  draught. 

The  flag-ship  had  with  her  a  large  number  of  gun-boats  and 
army  transports  at  anchor  off  the  inlet.  Admiral  Dupont  hoisted 
his  flag  on  board  of  the  Mohican  and  entered  the  inlet,  followed 
by  seventeen  navy  vessels  and  seven  army  transports  carrying  a 
brigade  under  General  H.  G.  Wright,  a  considerable  part  of  the 
force  being  that  which  had  remained  at  anchor  in  Warsaw  Sound 
before  mentioned,  in  our  demonstration  on  Savannah.  As  they 
entered  the  inlet  these  vessels  presented  a  very  formidable  ap- 
pearance, which  was  observed  by  the  lookouts  of  the  enemy, 
telegraphed  to  Brunswick  near  by,  and  thence  to  Fernandina. 
General  R.  E.  Lee,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Confederate 


FERNANDINA.  361 

forces  in  that  military  division,  had  already  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  authorities  in  Richmond  the  fact  that  the  forts  on 
St.  Simon's  and  Jeckyl  Islands  had  no  value,  inasmuch  as  St. 
Andrew's  Inlet  permitted  the  entrance  of  our  forces  to  the  in- 
terior water-ways  to  Fernandina  and  a  large  section  of  country  ; 
and  by  authority  he  had  already  removed  the  guns  from  the  two 
islands  named,  to  increase  the  defences  of  Savannah.  The  news 
of  our  arrival  hastened  the  flight  of  the  fifteen  hundred  troops 
from  Fernandina,  who  had  been  at  work  for  four  days  and 
nights  dismounting  and  carrying  off  their  heavy  guns  to  defend 
Savannah ;  in  that  time  they  had  succeeded  in  removing  more 
than  half  the  number,  principally  those  guarding  the  sea-entrance. 

At  daylight  the  Pawnee  left,  to  pass  through  Cumberland 
Sound,  followed  by  nine  navy  vessels,  of  which  the  Seneca  was 
third  in  line.  The  Pawnee  and  Huron  succeeded  in  crossing  the 
flats,  or  shoalest  part,  where  the  tides  meet,  but  the  remainder 
of  us  were  held  fast  until  the  next  high  water,  when  we  got 
through,  with  two  transports,  one  having  a  battalion  of  marines 
on  board,  and  the  other  the  Ninety- seventh  Pennsylvania  Regi- 
ment. We  were  without  pilots,  and  had  to  grope  our  way  as  best 
we  could.  The  Pawnee  and  Huron,  which  had  cleared  the  flats, 
ran  aground  three  miles  from  Fort  Clinch,  and  were  held  fast 
until  the  next  high  water. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Ottawa  had  got  over  the  flats,  and,  pass- 
ing on  towards  the  railroad  bridge  beyond  Fernandina,  had  made 
an  ineffectual  attempt  to  intercept  two  trains,  by  firing  upon 
them.  They  were  the  last,  however,  and  Fernandina  was  thence- 
forth cut  off  from  railroad  communication  with  the  interior. 


362  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Pass  through  Cumberland  Sound — Take  Possession  of  St.  Augustine — Occu- 
pation of  Jacksonville — White  Flags — George  Huston  kills  Lieutenant 
Sproston,  and  is  himself  killed — Neils  Jonson — A  Desperate  Man — A 
Present  of  a  Bear — Sounding  Depth  of  Water  at  Charleston — Ossabaw 
Sound — In  Command  of  the  Sebago— Henry  M.  Blue — The  Water-Witch 
— Believed  from  Command  of  the  Sebago — Assigned  to  the  Monitor  Pa- 
tapsco  at  Wilmington — An  Engagement — On  Sick-Leave — Port  Sumter — 
Attack  on  Ports  Moultrie  and  Beauregard — A  Scout — A  Council  of  War — 
Opinions  in  regard  to  the  Monitors. 

While  our  division  was  passing  through  Cumberland  Sound, 
the  flag-officer  had  gone  out  of  the  inlet  with  the  other  vessels 
that  had  entered  the  previous  afternoon,  and  a  few  hours  later 
anchored  as  near  the  entrance  to  Fernandina  as  the  depth  of 
water  would  allow,  and  awaited  our  coming.  When  we  took 
possession,  which,  as  already  stated,  was  done  without  a  gun 
being  fired,  the  garrison  had  left,  taking  with  them  eighteen  of 
the  thirty-three  heavy  guns  that  had  been  placed  for  the  defence 
of  the  city. 

After  turning  over  the  defences  and  city  to  the  army,  the 
naval  force  proceeded  to  St.  Augustine  and  took  possession  with- 
out resistance,'  the  two  companies  that  had  garrisoned  the  fort 
having  left.  The  smaller  gun-boats  had  preceded  the  flag-ship 
to  the  bar  off  the  St.  John's  River ;  the  water  over  the  bar  was 
so  rough  as  to  prevent  any  of  them  from  crossing  it,  except 
the  Ellen,  which  had  much  less  draught  than  the  others.  She 
signalled  that  the  enemy  had  abandoned  the  earthworks. 

At  high  water  on  the  afternoon  of  the  10th,  the  Ottawa, 
Seneca,  and  Pembina  went  in,  striking  several  times  on  the  bar, 
however.  Every  one  of  the  three  vessels  named  had  a  com- 
pany of  the  Fourth  New  Hampshire  Regiment  on  board.  We 
anchored  off  Mayport  Mills,  three  miles  up  the  river.  That 
night  the  whole  western  sky  was  illuminated  by  the  burning  of 
several  saw-mills  below  Jacksonville.  In  this  and  in  similar 
ways  much  more  injury  was  inflicted  on  the  Southern  people 


WHITE  FLAGS.  363 

by  their  own  forces  than  by  us.  As  an  instance  of  this,  on 
February  14  the  Confederate  general  at  Brunswick  informed 
General  Lee  that  all  the  guns  had  been  removed  from  St.  Simon's 
and  Jeckyl  Islands,  and  added,  "  Before  fully  evacuating  this 
position,  I  beg  to  bring  to  the  consideration  of  the  general  the 
question  of  burning  the  town  of  Brunswick,  for  the  moral 
effect  it  would  produce  upon  the  enemy."  As  the  town  was  not 
burned,  it  may  be  inferred  that  General  Lee  did  not  approve  of 
producing  "  a  moral  effect  upon  the  enemy"  at  so  great  a  cost  to 
the  citizens  of  the  Confederacy. 

At  daylight  the  four  gun-boats  were  on  their  way  to  Jackson- 
ville, thirty  miles  from  the  bar  at  the  entrance  of  the  river.  As 
we  ascended  the  river,  several  Union  flags  were  hoisted,  and,  in 
default  of  them,  at  every  house,  with  few  exceptions,  a  white 
flag  was  hoisted  as  a  token  that  the  occupants  acknowledged  our 
presence  and  wished  to  proclaim  their  neutrality.  This  acknowl- 
edgment was  omitted  on  a  pretentious  house  on  the  river-bank 
two  miles  below  Jacksonville.  On  inquiry,  I  learned  that  it  was 
the  residence  of  a  South  Carolinian  who  had  influence  enough 
to  be  allowed  to  stay  at  home,  and  who,  in  recompense,  was  an 
ardent  "whipper-in"  of  others,  his  poor  neighbors.  I  thought 
it  worth  while  to  send  a  letter  to  this  obtuse  individual  inform- 
ing him  of  the  presence  of  Union  gun-boats,  and  pointing  out 
the  necessity  of  his  hoisting  either  our  ensign  or  a  flag  of  truce, 
as  otherwise  he  would  suffer  a  penalty.  He  complied  at  once 
with  my  demands,  and  nobody  from  the  gun-boats  ever  landed 
on  his  premises.  I  venture  the  opinion  that  he  did  not  molest 
his  neighbors  or  cause  them  to  be  molested  for  doing  what  I 
compelled  him  to  do. 

We  anchored  at  noon  off  the  wharf,  and  sent  our  three  com- 
panies of  troops  on  shore,  who  picketed  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 
Two  heavy  pieces  of  ordnance  in  transit  from  Fernandina  were 
found  on  the  wharf.  The  Ottawa  passed  up  the  river  as  far  as 
her  draught  of  water  would  permit,  which  was  Orange  Mills, 
some  sixty  miles  above  Jacksonville,  and  found  and  raised  the 
famous  yacht  America,  which  had  been  sunk  in  a  creek. 

The  Seneca  was  kept  in  charge  of  St.  John's  River  several 
months,  with  nominally  a  supporting  force  of  five  gun-boats,  but 


364  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

rarely  with  more  than  two  or  three,  to  patrol  the  river  and  prevent 
arms  or  military  stores  that  had  been  landed  in  some  of  the  numer- 
ous inlets  on  the  Florida  coast  from  being  brought  to  Savannah. 

A  number  of  the  poor  people  of  this  region  had  either  avoided 
being  drafted  by  taking  to  the  woods,  or  had  deserted  from  the 
army.  A  band  of  "  Regulators"  persecuted  them,  the  leader  being 
one  George  Huston,  a  Pennsylvanian  who  had  lived  in  Florida 
for  a  number  of  years.  It  was  supposed  that  this  man's  capture 
would  secure  the  tranquillity  of  peacefully-disposed  persons  in 
that  region.  For  the  purpose  of  capturing  him,  a  detail  was 
made  of  forty  men  from  the  Seneca  and  thirty  from  the  Patroon, 
and  put  under  the  command  of  the  executive  officer  of  the  Seneca, 
Lieutenant  John  G.  Sproston.  The  party  landed  at  daylight, 
and  proceeded  to  Huston's  house.  When  still  at  some  distance, 
their  approach  was  discovered  by  a  negro  woman,  who  gave  the 
alarm.  On  the  arrival  of  our  men  at  the  house,  several  shots 
were  fired  from  it,  and,  no  precautions  having  been  taken  to 
guard  the  rear,  the  parties  escaped  in  that  direction.  Huston 
made  his  appearance  at  the  front  door,  armed  with  a  double- 
barrelled  gun,  two  pistols,  and  a  bowie-knife.  Sproston  raised 
a  pistol  and  demanded  his  surrender,  and  was  immediately  shot 
dead  by  Huston,  who  fired  the  other  pistol  and  both  barrels  of 
the  gun,  slightly  wounding  a  sailor.  He  was  instantly  shot  and 
bayoneted,  but  did  not  die  for  two  days.  He  was  taken  on  board, 
and  transferred  to  the  Smith,  where  there  was  plenty  of  room. 
His  wounds  were  necessarily  fatal ;  he  was  a  desperado,  and  died 
bewailing  his  hard  fate  in  having  killed  only  Sproston.  The 
officer  he  had  shot  was  able,  courageous,  and  zealous,  and  an 
excellent,  admirable  gentleman. 

When  patrolling  the  river  the  Seneca  was  fired  upon  from 
Yellow  Bluffs,  some  fifteen  miles  below  the  city,  where  the 
channel  passes  close  to  the  bluffs.  Two  men  were  dangerously 
wounded,  one  a  lookout  at  the  foremast-head,  and  the  other  on 
the  forecastle.  At  the  time,  I  was  standing  on  the  horse-block 
with  the  pilot  and  an  officer,  and,  although  the  hammock-rail 
netting  that  protected  us  to  above  the  hips  was  well  riddled,  as 
well  as  the  inside  of  the  bulwark  beyond  us,  we  escaped  injury 
from  the  dozen  or  more  guns  that  had  been  aimed  at  us. 


A  DESPERATE  MAN.  365 

A  few  days  later  I  learned  that  a  Swede  named  Neils  Jonson 
had  been  present  when  two  field-pieces  were  thrown  into  a  creek 
near  by.  I  had  him  brought  on  board,  and  told  him  he  would 
be  held  prisoner  until  he  should  agree  to  point  out  the  spot 
where  those  field-pieces  had  been  sunk ;  he  feigned  to  be  silly, 
but  was  told  that  he  was  wasting  his  time  and  mine.  Then  he 
wept  and  said  he  could  not  do  what  I  desired,  for  the  "  Regu- 
lators" would  kill  him  if  he  did.  A  compromise  was  effected, 
resulting  in  the  recovery  of  the  guns,  Jonson  being  given  a 
paper  stating  that  he  informed  us  where  they  were  in  order  to 
avoid  being  shot. 

When  the  Seneca  was  lying  off  Jacksonville,  I  received 
frequent  visits  from  Colonel  Titus,  a  native  Pennsylvanian  who 
had  lived  in  Florida  for  years.  He  was  the  son-in-law  of  Colo- 
nel Hopkins,  then  in  command  of  the  Confederate  forces  in 
the  vicinity  of  Jacksonville.  Titus  was  about  thirty-five  years 
of  age,  six  feet  in  height,  strongly  built,  with  a  tendency  to 
obesity  that  showed  a  lack  of  sufficient  exercise.  He  said  he 
was  a  Union  man  who  had  been  let  alone,  and  lived  some  dis- 
tance from  the  town.  He  was  reputed  a  "  desperate  man,"  a 
character  held  in  such  repute  in  the  old  South  that  on  one 
occasion  a  Savannah  newspaper  proposed  the  ending  of  the  war 
by  enlisting  "  ten  thousand  desperate  men,"  who  should  start 
North  and  hew  down  everything  in  their  way  until  peace  was 
made.  It  was  asserted  that  nothing  would  be  able  to  impede 
the  march  of  these  ten  thousand  "  desperate  men."  The  same 
faith  existed  on  the  part  of  some  of  our  people  in  the  raga- 
muffins that  were  the  terror  of  cities  before  their  enlistment.  A 
city  bully  is  rarely  a  good  soldier ;  it  is  wonderful  how  soon 
he  sobers  down  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy  who  is  willing 
to  shoot  him.  Whether  Colonel  Titus  was  a  "  desperate  man" 
or  not,  I  do  not  know.  He  was  disposed  to  be  amiable  when  I 
saw  him,  and  brought  me  a  young  bear,  perhaps  as  a  peace- 
offering,  which  I  accepted ;  he  also  offered  to  take  me  on  a  bear- 
hunt.  This  I  declined  with  thanks,  as  I  could  not  very  well 
leave  my  duty  of  patrolling  the  river,  however  enticing  a  bear- 
hunt  might  be.  The  bear  became  a  great  pet  on  board  of  the 
Seneca,  and  proved  very  useful  in  licking  up  great  masses  of 


366         THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

"blind  mosquitoes," — small  black  insects  that  came  in  clouds 
and  actually  formed  drifts  at  times  on  the  vessel,  as  snow  would 
on  falling;  in  a  fresh  breeze.  Thev  seemed  to  be  a  sweet  morsel, 
and  the  bear  never  tired  of  licking  them  up.  After  my  break- 
fast hour  he  would  wait  patiently  until  I  came  up  the  hatchway, 
and  then  would  put  himself  on  his  hind  legs  and  throw  his  fore- 
paws  around  me  until  given  some  lumps  of  sugar  that  I  always 
brought  with  me  when  I  came  on  deck  in  the  morning.  I  gave 
the  animal  to  the  captain  of  the  Wabash,  who  told  me  after- 
wards that  when  they  were  at  anchor  off  Philadelphia  he  would 
climb  to  the  main-top-gallant  mast-head  and  there  remain  for 
hours,  looking  over  the  city.  It  seems  extraordinary  that  so 
heavy  and  apparently  clumsy  an  animal  should  go  aloft  and 
hang  on  there  for  any  length  of  time.  He  had  nothing  to  sit 
upon  ;  nothing  but  his  claws  and  muscle  to  support  him.  The 
death  of  this  animal  was  tragic :  had  he  been  a  human  being  he 
would  have  been  called  "  too  high-strung."  On  the  return  of 
the  Wabash  to  Port  Royal,  as  usual  on  Sundays  the  sailors  were 
permitted  to  take  boats  and  go  on  shore  for  recreation.  They 
asked  that  the  bear  should  accompany  them,  and  the  request  was 
granted.  It  required  much  coaxing  and  lavish  promises  of 
sugar  to  get  the  animal  to  go  over  the  ship's  side  and  into  a 
boat.  As  they  neared  the  shore  it  became  wild  with  excitement, 
and  the  men,  in  order  to  restrain  it,  passed  the  end  of  the  boat's 
halliards  around  its  neck.  When  they  reached  the  beach  they 
held  the  line,  and  on  getting  to  the  pine-trees  near  by  they 
secured  the  end  around  a  tree.  The  animal  for  a  time  walked 
around  wildly  in  a  circle,  then  lay  down  gently  with  his  head 
between  his  paws  and  apparently  went  to  sleep.  When  the 
sailors  came  to  arouse  it  they  found  it  was  dead. 

Soon  after  our  return  from  the  St.  John's  River  the  Seneca 
was  sent  off  Charleston  to  blockade.  On  taking  leave  of  the 
flag-officer  at  Port  Royal,  he  said  it  was  supposed  the  enemy 
was  fortifying  the  southern  end  of  Morris  Island,  as  numerous 
tents  were  seen,  and  he  would  like  to  know  whether  it  was  a 
fact.  I  said  if  he  would  give  the  senior  officer  instructions  to 
permit  me  to  cross  the  bar  he  would  soon  learn  the  facts.  On 
reporting  for  duty  off  Charleston  I  mentioned  this  conversation 


OSSABAW  SOUND.  367 

to  the  commanding  officer,  and  said  that  with  his  permission  I 
would  take  soundings  off  Light-House  Inlet  and  go  in  the  next 
day,  to  which  he  assented.  I  took  charge  of  the  boat,  sounded, 
took  ranges,  and  dropped  buoys. 

I  was  not  surprised  to  find  a  greater  depth  of  water  than 
Charleston  bar  had  ever  had  before,  owing  to  the  sinking  of  the 
"  stone  fleet"  the  previous  January,  which  was  accredited  abroad 
as  an  act  of  barbarism  and  as  inflicting  a  permanent  injury  upon 
the  harbor.  The  next  day  I  took  the  Seneca  in,  and  followed 
up  the  Morris  Island  beach,  until  within  easy  range  of  a  house 
upon  which  a  range-light  had  been  placed,  about  half  the  length 
of  the  island  north  and  south.  East  and  west  the  island  was 
not  more  than  three  hundred  yards  in  width  of  solid  ground. 
I  opened  fire  with  an  eleven-inch  shell-gun  on  this  house,  and 
thereby  set  a  large  number  of  men  in  motion  who  were  en- 
camped in  the  neighborhood.  The  shelving  sand-spits  favored 
their  protection.  I  have  never  consulted  the  official  records,  to 
ascertain  whether  I  did  any  injury.  The  Seneca  passed  on 
towards  Fort  Sumter  until  within  easy  rifle-range,  and  then 
turned,  with  a  full  head  of  steam,  to  get  out  of  range  as  soon 
as  possible.  The  fort  opened  fire  on  us  with  probably  the  only 
rifle  in  position  ;  but  before  they  had  a  proper  elevation  we  had 
got  beyond  effective  range.  There  were  no  guns  in  position  on 
Morris  Island  at  that  time  except  those  placed  to  breach  Sumter 
by  the  "  sovereign  State  of  South  Carolina." 

In  blockading,  I  asked  the  senior  officer  to  allow  me  to  take 
up  position  after  night  near  the  beach,  inside*  of  Rattlesnake 
Shoals,  where  the  blockaders  came  in,  but  he  refused.  He  looked 
upon  the  vessels  being  near  the  beach  as  dangerous,  whereas  it 
would  only  have  been  so  after  it  became  light,  by  which  time  I 
should  have  taken  care  to  get  out  of  range. 

Three  weeks  later  the  Seneca  was  transferred  to  Ossabaw 
Sound ;  the  flag-officer  had  information  that  led  him  to  suppose 
that  the  Atlanta,  an  iron-clad  built  on  the  hull  of  the  Fingal, 
was  approaching  completion  at  Savannah,  and  when  ready  to 
raid  the  coast  would  probably  come  out  by  way  of  Ossabaw 
Sound,  as  the  Fingal,  when  running  the  blockade,  had  entered 
there.      He  sent  the  Sebago,  the  first  of  the  "double-enders" 


368  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

that  had  been  completed,  to  Ossabaw  Sound,  and  transferred  me 
to  the  command  of  that  vessel  on  August  8, 1862.  The  "  double- 
enders"  had  rudders  on  both  ends  and  side-wheels,  more  than 
ordinary  speed,  little  draught  of  water,  and  heavy  batteries.  The 
Sebago  had  been  in  commission  seven  or  eight  months,  under 
the  command  of  various  indifferent  officers,  who  took  no  care  of 
the  men.  A  crew  can  soon  be  reduced  by  neglect  to  inefficiency 
and  an  unhappy  condition  of  mind  and  body.  Personally  the 
transfer  was  not  agreeable,  but  I  felt  gratified  at  the  mark  of 
confidence  shown  by  the  flag-officer.  Lieutenant-Commander 
Henry  M.  Blue  was  ordered  as  executive  officer  a  few  days  later, 
and  proved  an  excellent  one.  I  applied  for  and  obtained  four 
additional  nine-inch  broadside  guns,  with  "  contrabands"  equal 
to  the  complement  of  men  for  them.  In  six  weeks  the  men 
were  anxious  to  go  into  a  fight.  Their  food,  clothing,  comfort, 
and  instruction  at  great  guns  and  small-arms  had  been  attended 
to,  and  "  they  felt  their  oats,"  as  horsemen  say. 

The  Pawnee  was  sent  to  support  the  Sebago,  being  the  strong- 
est vessel  available  at  the  time.  When  we  arrived  in  Ossabaw 
Sound  I  sent  to  Port  Royal  a  sailing  bark  that  was  employed 
on  the  blockade,  and  wrote  the  flag-officer  that  if  the  Atlanta 
made  her  appearance  I  would  stand  out  from  shore,  and  after 
reaching  deep  water  would  signal  the  Pawnee  to  engage  her 
closely,  and  then  I  would  endeavor  to  run  her  down  with  the 
Sebago.     My  idea  met  with  the  flag-officer's  approval. 

When  blockading  alone  in  these  waters  I  would  get  under 
way  when  the  .sun  went  down  and  anchor  just  inside  the  bar, 
and  early  in  the  morning  would  return  within  the  headlands  to 
smooth  water.  On  the  23d  of  September  a  small  steamer  was 
seen  approaching,  and  signalled  the  number  of  the  Water-Witch  : 
I  had  served  on  board  of  that  vessel,  and  recognized  her.  We 
beat  to  quarters  for  action,  spread  fires,  unshackled  the  chain  to 
slip  it,  and  awaited  her  coming.  When  she  came  closer  I  rec- 
ognized her  commanding  officer,  Pendergrast,  and  then  beat  the 
retreat,  which  means  putting  things  to  rights  and  the  men  leaving 
their  guns.  Pendergrast  came  on  board  to  fulfil  his  orders,  and 
said  dryly,  "You  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  afraid  of  the 
Water-Witch."     I  replied  good-naturedly  that  I  had  not  been 


ASSIGNED   TO    THE  PATAPSCO  AT   WILMINGTON.     369 

frightened,  but  I  thought  the  people  on  board  of  the  Water- 
Witch  would  have  been  had  she  fallen  into  the  hands  of  an 
enemy  who  was  endeavoring  to  effect  an  entrance.  It  was  my 
business  to  guard  the  entrance  against  the  tricks  of  an  enemy. 
Eight  months  later,  the  Water-Witch,  under  the  command  of 
the  same  officer,  in  those  very  waters,  was  captured  by  the  enemy. 
Instead  of  exercising  caution  in  getting  under  way  in  the  even- 
ing and  anchoring  just  within  the  bar,  where  he  would  have  had 
a  fair  view  all  around,  he  lay  at  anchor  close  to  the  shore-line, 
where  the  shadows  of  the  trees  obscured  the  surface  of  the  water. 
One  dark  squally  night  in  June,  1863,  he  was  boarded  by  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  who  came  in  seven  cotton-barges  and 
killed  or  captured  every  one  on  board  except  a  "  contraband'' 
who  jumped  overboard  and  escaped.  Had  the  Water- Witch 
been  at  anchor  within  the  bar  after  night,  as  the  vessel  under 
my  command  had  been,  she  would  have  been  unapproachable  by 
cotton-scows,  and  had  the  manoeuvre  been  attempted  the  result 
would  have  been  bad  for  the  people  in  the  scows. 

When  I  was  blockading  the  Ossabaw,  aided  by  the  Pawnee 
and  a  small  gun-boat,  I  was  more  gratified  that  the  Atlanta 
did  not  appear  than  I  would  have  been  had  she  hove  in  sight. 
Nevertheless  we  would  have  made  the  best  fight  in  our  power. 
She  did  not  make  her  appearance  until  the  following  April, 
when  she  was  captured  by  Captain  John  Rodgers  in  the  monitor 
Weehawken,  after  he  had  fired  the  third  fifteen-inch  shell.  The 
Huron,  also  a  monitor,  had  not  the  opportunity  of  getting  in  a  ]A  C<*  Wl 
shell.  Yet  the  Atlanta  would  probably  have  been  able  to  clean 
out  a  whole  fleet  of  such  vessels  as  were  employed  in  blockading, 
and  even  of  those  built  for  vessel s-of- war.  At  the  time  of  her 
capture  I  was  in  command  of  the  Patapsco,  in  North  Edisto 
harbor. 

Late  in  the  fall  I  was  glad  to  be  relieved  from  the  command 
of  the  Sebago  and  sent  North  to  take  command  of  one  of  the 
monitors  then  building.  I  was  assigned  to  the  Patapsco  at 
Wilmington,  Delaware. 

At  that  time  the  art  of  handling  even  one-inch  iron  plates 
was  in  its  infancy  with  us.  The  vessel  was  not  ready  to  be  put 
in  commission  until  January  2  :  she  left  the  Delaware  break- 

24 


370  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

water  on  the  7th,  under  tow  of  the  tug  America,  and  entered 
Hampton  Roads  on  the  8th,  having  been  assigned  there  to  guard 
those  waters  against  an  apprehended  attack  from  iron-clads  at 
Richmond  said  to  be  ready  for  service. 

The  battery  of  the  Patapsco  consisted  of  a  fifteen-inch  shell- 
gun,  and  one  one-hundred-and- fifty-pounder  rifle ;  the  carriages 
having  been  made  for  two  fifteen-inch  shell-guns  necessitated  a 
casting  called  a  "yoke,"  which  was  fitted  into  the  sockets  de- 
signed for  the  trunnions  of  a  fifteen-inch  shell-gun,  to  narrow  the 
distance,  and  to  receive  the  trunnions  of  the  rifle.  On  target- 
practice  the  yoke  soon  ruptured,  and  was  replaced  by  one  made 
of  bronze,  which  stood  the  test  of  firing. 

We  remained  at  Newport  News  until  the  28th  of  January, 
1863,  when,  the  monitor  Lehigh  having  taken  our  place,  we 
dropped  down  to  Hampton  Roads  under  orders  to  proceed  to 
Port  Royal,  which  we  did  on  the  30th,  in  tow  of  the  Pawnee. 
We  passed  within  the  Hatteras  shoals,  which  our  pilot  thought 
entirely  safe  with  our  draught,  and  struck  twice  slightly,  greatly 
to  my  annoyance.  The  weather  was  threatening  when  we  were 
off  Beaufort,  North  Carolina,  and  we  entered  that  port  on  the 
2d  of  February  in  consequence.  For  several  days  we  had  a 
heavy  gale,  all  around  the  compass.  On  the  8th,  when  the 
weather  had  settled,  we  went  to  sea,  and  reached  Port  Royal  on 
the  10th,  passing  near  enough  to  the  vessels  blockading  Charles- 
ton to  communicate  with  them. 

We  remained  at  Port  Royal  until  the  26th,  drilling  the  men 
and  getting  them  up  to  their  work.  On  the  27th  we  left  for 
Ossabaw  Soimd,  in  tow  of  a  steamer,  and  arrived  on  the  fore- 
noon of  the  next  day,  to  take  part  in  the  bombardment  of  Fort 
MacAllister.  Worden  had  bombarded  it,  in  command  of  the 
Montauk,  several  days  before.  He  afterwards  destroyed  the 
blockade-runner  Nashville,  while  it  lay  aground  up  the  river, 
twelve  hundred  yards  from  his  position.  The  flag-officer  wished 
to  test  the  mechanical  appliances  of  the  monitors,  so  as  to  ascer- 
tain and  if  possible  remedy  any  defects  before  the  attack  on 
Fort  Sumter,  for  which  they  had  been  specially  constructed. 
The  monitors  engaged,  in  addition  to  the  Montauk,  were  the 
Passaic,  Captain  Percival  Drayton,  the  Patapsco,  Commander 


FORT  SUMTER.  371 

Ammen,  and  the  Nahant,  Commander  Downes.  Three  mortar- 
schooners  were  in  the  distance,  and  several  gun-boats  carrying 
eleven-inch  shell-guns.  We  made  a  bombardment  on  the  3d  of 
March  for  eight  hours,  damaging  the  traverses  and  embankments, 
but  they  were  repaired  the  following  night,  although  the  mortar- 
schooners  kept  up  their  fire.  Owing  to  the  slowness  of  our  fire, 
the  enemy  never  exposed  himself  when  a  shell  was  on  its  way. 
Two  of  his  guns  were  disabled,  but  that  was  about  all  the  harm 
we  did. 

All  the  monitors  left  Ossabaw  Sound  on  the  6th  for  Port 
Royal,  in  tow,  as  usual,  but,  of  course,  using  their  engines,  the 
object  of  the  tow  being  to  keep  them  on  a  straight  course,  and 
also  to  help  them  along  a  little. 

On  the  31st  all  the  vessels  of  the  monitor  class  left  Port 
Royal  for  North  Edisto,  a  snug  little  harbor  eighteen  miles 
southwest  of  Charleston  bar,  where  they  lay  until  the  evening 
of  the  5th,  when  they  were  towed  up  and  anchored  off  Charles- 
ton bar.  At  sunset  the  flag-ship  New  Ironsides,  at  anchor  off 
the  bar,  made  signal  for  the  Patapsco  to  go  across  the  bar,  which 
had  just  been  buoyed.  She  was  followed  by  the  Catskill  j  the 
vessels  anchored  a  little  to  the  north  of  the  Light-House  entrance, 
where  we  crossed,  in  mid-channel  towards  Charleston.  The 
weather  was  quite  hazy,  and  soon  after  anchoring  a  tug  of  the 
enemy  came  down  to  reconnoitre,  but  disappeared  before  we  were 
able  to  throw  a  shell  at  her.  Early  the  next  day  all  the  monitors 
came  over  the  bar,  and  the  New  Ironsides  followed  when  the 
tide  was  nearly  full.  It  was  still  hazy  ;  the  ranges  could  not  be 
seen,  and,  in  consequence,  the  admiral  had  to  forego  his  wish  to 
attack  Sumter  on  that  day.  We  could  make  out  the  outlines  of 
a  small  earthwork,  afterwards  known  to  us  as  Fort  Wagner,  on 
Morris  Island,  two  thousand  five  hundred  yards  from  Sumter. 

The  morning  of  the  7th  was  clearer.  Signal  was  made  at 
noon  to  get  under  way.  In  doing  so,  the  Weehawken's  chain 
fouled  the  grapnels  attached  to  the  "  torpedo-catcher"  which  she 
had  on  her  bows,  and  this  delayed  us  more  than  an  hour.  Two 
of  these  "  torpedo-catchers' '  had  been  built  North  and  towed 
down  :  they  were  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  were  fitted  to  the  bows 
somewhat  like  a  boot-jack  to  a  shoe,  and  then  secured  by  chains. 


372  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

The  one  attached  to  the  Weehawken  was  quite  heavy,  and, 
having  a  different  wave-motion  from  that  of  the  hull  of  the 
vessel,  it  battered  her  heavily,  and  actually  loosened  the  armor 
plating  on  her  bows.  The  Weehawken  led  the  line,  with  the 
idea  of  clearing  the  way  by  exploding  torpedoes  or  grappling 
the  wires  and  detaching  them  to  prevent  their  explosion  from 
batteries  on  shore.  Following  the  Weehawken  came  the  Passaic, 
Montauk,  and  Patapsco,  in  line  ahead,  then  the  New  Ironsides, 
a  broadside  iron-clad  with  fourteen  eleven-inch  guns  and  t\yo 
one-hundred-and-fifty-pounder  rifles,  and  after  her  the  Catskill, 
Nantucket,  Nahant,  and  Keokuk,  the  last-named  a  so-called  iron- 
clad that  was  riddled  by  every  projectile  that  struck  her. 

I  confess  to  having  felt  great  impatience  at  the  delay  in  form- 
ing the  line,  and  at  our  slow  progress,  owing  to  the  "  torpedo- 
catcher"  on  the  bow  of  the  leading  vessel.  In  the  forenoon  I 
said  to  some  of  the  officers  that  nobody  could  say  who  would 
go  under  through  torpedoes  or  otherwise,  but  I  felt  quite  con- 
fident that  when  the  sun  went  down  Sumter  would  be  a  pile  of 
brick-bats, — which,  however,  was  not  verified.  Notwithstanding 
the  few  shells  that  struck  it,  no  sooner  had  the  vessels  withdrawn 
than  preparations  were  made  to  remove  all  the  guns  from  the 
embrasures  and  fill  the  casemates  with  bags  of  sand. 

General  Beauregard,  in  charge  of  the  defences,  was  an  able 
engineer  and  artillerist,  and  a  day  or  so  before  our  arrival  had 
planted  small  buoys  along  the  channel  by  which  we  approached 
and  thus  got  the  ranges  in  a  practical  way  for  all  the  heavy  guns 
that  bore  on  that  channel ;  and  there  was  a  large  number  of 
them.  As  soon  as  our  vessels  came  on  a  line  with  the  buoys 
they  encountered  an  accurate  and  overwhelming  fire,  which, 
owing  to  the  lack  of  endurance  of  the  monitors,  their  very  slow 
fire,  and  the  defects  in  working  their  guns,  made  the  reduction 
of  Sumter  with  the  force  we  then  possessed  impossible. 

I  had  previously  ascertained  the  position  of  the  magazine,  in 
the  southeast  corner  of  Sumter,  and  had  employed  the  hundred- 
and-fifty-pounder  rifle  on  that  angle  when  we  came  within  range ; 
on  the  fifth  discharge  the  cap-square  bolts  were  carried  away, 
and  the  rifle  was  disabled  for  the  remainder  of  the  action :  in 
one  way  or  another  the  batteries  of  almost  all  the  vessels  were 


FORT  SUMTER.  373 

disabled.  While  in  action  the  hull  and  turret  of  the  Patapsco 
were  struck  fifty-two  times,  and  some  of  the  blows  were  quite 
heavy.  It  may  be  well  to  inform  the  unprofessional  reader  that 
the  "  cap-squares"  are  iron  bands  passing  over  the  trunnions  to 
hold  them  down  to  the  carriage,  and  that  the  "  trunnions"  are 
the  arms,  or  pivots,  upon  which  the  gun  rests  and  is  elevated 
or  depressed. 

During  the  action  the  Patapsco  was  fifth  in  line,  following 
the  Montauk ;  she  turned  when  near  a  line  of  buoyed  nets,  and 
from  some  obstruction  was  held  fast  until  backed.  She  was 
about  fifty  minutes  under  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy.  A  con- 
cise account  of  this  action  is  published  in  volume  iv.  of  the  War 
series  of  the  Century  Magazine  by  Rear- Admiral  Rodgers.  In 
"  The  Atlantic  Coast"  will  be  found  a  statement  of  the  number 
of  shells  fired  at  Sumter,  and  of  the  damage  done  by  them ; 
also  the  number  of  shot  and  shell  fired  by  the  enemy. 

The  morning  after  the  attack  the  Patapsco  was  sent  to  Port 
Royal  to  guard  against  the  Atlanta,  which  was  then  ready  to 
come  out.  Four  days  later  all  the  vessels  of  the  monitor  class 
were  sent  to  Port  Royal  to  effect  repairs,  many  of  them  being 
very  badly  battered.  The  Weehawken  and  the  Nahant  were 
sent  directly  from  North  Edisto  to  Ossabaw  to  meet  the  Atlanta, 
with  the  result  as  already  stated.  On  the  21st  all  the  monitors 
save  the  two  last-named  were  again  towed  to  North  Edisto  by 
orders  from  the  Navy  Department,  Drayton,  in  command  of 
the  Passaic,  being  the  senior  officer.  He  was  ordered  North  on 
the  10th  of  May,  and  I  then  became  the  senior. 

Two  days  later,  a  man  was  seen  at  sunrise  making  signals 
from  the  end  of  a  marsh  nearest  the  vessels.  A  boat  was  sent, 
and  he  was  brought  on  board.  He  told  us  that  Captain  William 
H.  Parker,  of  the  iron-clad  Chicora,  in  Charleston  harbor,  was 
in  our  waters  with  eight  small  row-boats  fitted  with  spar  tor- 
pedoes, for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the  monitors.  He  said  the 
boats  were  in  a  neighboring  creek,  which  we  soon  after  block- 
aded, but  the  sluices  between  the  salt-water  creeks  are  so  numer- 
ous as  usually  to  admit  of  the  escape  of  boats.  The  enemy, 
from  the  lookout  on  the  church-tower  at  Rockville,  had  seen 
the  deserter  brought  off,  and  knew  that  the  chances  of  a  successful 


374  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

attack  with  such  means  as  he  then  possessed  were  gone.  A  day 
or  so  later,  the  enemy  observed  from  the  same  church-tower 
that  the  monitors  had  spars  rigged  out  over  the  bows  and  sides, 
and  lighter  ones  between  their  ends,  with  casks  floating  them  at 
the  surface  of  the  water.  In  fact,  they  were  fenced  in,  so  that 
a  row-boat  could  only  reach  their  sides  abaft  the  turret.  The 
torpedo-boats  thereupon  returned  to  Charleston  without  attempt- 
ing to  attack  us. 

I  suffered  greatly  from  an  attack  of  rheumatism  in  the  back 
part  of  my  knee-joints,  the  sensation  being  that  of  burning,  as 
of  fire,  and  preventing  sleep.  I  asked  a  medical  survey,  and 
on  the  8th  of  June  was  ordered  North  on  sick-leave.  I  went 
to  Richfield  Springs,  where  I  rode  a  great  deal  on  horseback 
and  took  the  water,  and  was  soon  quite  well,  or  at  least  free 
from  great  pain.  I  was  ordered  late  in  August  to  return  and 
report  to  Rear- Admiral  Dahlgren  without  command,  and  not 
on  his  staff  proper,  with  some  other  officers  of  my  rank  also. 
Dahlgren  had  the  idea  that  it  was  worth  while  to  keep  several 
spare  commanders  on  hand,  as  he  would  have  kept  spare  spars 
that  might  possibly  be  required.  I  had  reason  to  congratulate 
myself  that  I  arrived  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  September 
instead  of  the  day  before ;  otherwise  I  should  probably  have  been 
taken  prisoner  in  what  was  called  an  assault  on  Fort  Sumter. 

Within  the  previous  six  weeks  Sumter  had  been  reduced  to  a 
pile  of  brick-bats  from  Morris  Island,  at  a  very  long  range, 
greatly  aided  by  the  cross-fire  from  the  monitors,  especially  those 
provided  with  heavy  rifle  guns.  After  this  destructive  fire  was 
opened  the  enemy  removed  nightly  his  heavy  guns,  except  a  few 
on  the  inner  face  .commanding  that  part  of  the  channel.  When 
Morris  Island  was  evacuated  he  had  less  than  a  company  of 
men  in  Sumter ;  the  shelter  for  troops  from  the  fire  of  an  enemy 
was  limited,  and  there  was  no  object  in  maintaining  a  force  in 
the  fort. 

Immediately  on  the  evacuation  of  Morris  Island,  Admiral 
Dahlgren  sent  a  formal  demand  to  General  Beauregard  for  the 
surrender  of  Sumter,  and  was  informed  that  "  he  could  have 
Sumter  when  he  could  take  and  hold  it."  The  following  day 
numbers  of  boats  towed  in  from  the  vessels  at  anchor  beyond 


ATTACK  ON  FORTS  MOULTRIE  AND  BEAUREGARD.     375 

the  bar  left  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  Beauregard  that  an  assault 
was  meditated :  he  therefore  put  a  large  garrison  into  the  fort 
as  soon  as  it  was  dark,  and  the  batteries  of  Forts  Moultrie  and 
Beauregard  awaited  an  attack  j  when  the  alarm  was  given  that 
the  boats  were  nearing  Sumter  the  water  was  literally  swept  by 
the  projectiles  of  the  enemy,  and  all  those  that  had  got  on  shore 
were  invited  into  the  fort  and  sent  to  prison.  Of  the  four  hun- 
dred who  were  in  the  boats,  ten  officers  and  one  hundred  and  four 
men  were  taken  prisoners,  and  three  were  killed.  If  after  this 
formal  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  and  the  ostentatious 
towing  in  of  boats  filled  with  armed  crews,  had  the  men  been 
sent  back  to  their  vessels  after  dark,  and  our  batteries  on  Morris 
Island  and  those  of  the  monitors  opened  fire  on  Sumter,  the 
enemy  would  have  suffered  terribly  from  the  lack  of  shelter  for 
the  large  force  thrown  into  the  fort  under  the  impression  that 
an  assault  would  actually  be  made  after  giving  formal  notice  to 
him  and  thus  rendering  its  success  impossible. 

About  this  time  the  admiral  had  two  boats  with  officers  called 
"scouts,"  a  novel  term  afloat,  who  were  supposed  to  go  within 
the  harbor  nightly  and  inform  him  of  obstructions  to  the  en- 
trance. One  of  the  officers,  who  was  smilingly  drunk  at  the  time, 
pretended  to  have  been  up  to  Charleston  and  on  the  wharves. 
The  admiral  said  to  me  that  he  had  the  idea  of  sending  in 
a  strong  little  chartered  side-wheel  steamer  to  ruu  down  the 
obstructions  previous  to  making  an  attempt  to  enter  with  the 
monitors.  I  had  already  informed  him  of  the  observations  I 
had  made  from  the  north  end  of  Morris  Island  and  from  the 
deck  of  a  monitor  well  up  towards  the  entrance  of  the  harbor : 
these  points  made  a  fair  base  for  plotting  lines  of  piling  that  had 
been  intact  in  April  when  the  monitors  attacked  Sumter,  but 
now  had  large  gaps  from  piles  having  been  washed  out.  I  had 
also  plotted  two  lines  of  black  barrel  buoys  which  I  supposed 
to  be  imperfectly  moored,  as  at  certain  times  of  the  tides  they 
seemed  to  come  together  at  two  centres,  like  flocks  of  ducks. 
No  floating  obstructions  were  visible,  and  had  there  been  booms 
made  of  logs  and  moored  in  the  main  channel,  as  stated  by  the 
scouts,  from  the  many  times  I  had  observed  the  buoys  and  the 
rows  of  piles  and  plotted  them,  I  should  have  seen  some  indi- 


376  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

cations,  as  a  ripple  of  water,  or  break.  If  he  wished  reliable 
information  as  to  the  character  of  actual  obstructions  in  the 
main  ship  channel  above  Sumter,  and  would  authorize  my  exami- 
nation of  that  part  of  the  harbor,  I  would  get  a  suitable  boat 
from  some  vessel  in  the  fleet,  and  at  the  first  favorable  oppor- 
tunity would  go  in  from  the  Ironsides  as  a  base,  she  being  near 
the  entrance.  The  admiral  seemed  pleased  with  the  proposition, 
and  gave  me  the  requisite  authority.  My  preparations  were 
soon  completed,  among  them  being  a  light  on  the  north  end  of 
Morris  Island  to  prevent  my  becoming  confused  should  the 
night  be  cloudy  and  my  boat  be  chased.  General  Terry  was 
good  enough  to  have  the  light  placed  as  requested.  A  little 
before  midnight  on  the  22d  of  September  I  left  the  Ironsides  in 
a  six-oared  boat  with  muffled  oars ;  there  was  a  light  breeze, 
and,  although  the  stars  were  visible,  there  was  a  haze.  After 
getting  up  near  Sumter  a  light  grapnel  was  thrown  overboard 
and  dragged  with  about  fifty  feet  of  line  out,  in  order  to  catch 
any  submerged  obstruction  that  might  be  in  the  channel.  After 
getting  pretty  well  in,  and  the  head  of  the  boat  had  been  turned 
towards  Fort  Johnson  and  we  had  passed  in  sufficiently  to  see 
the  light  General  Terry  had  put  on  Morris  Islaud,  to  the  west- 
ward, or  right,  of  Sumter  from  our  position,  we  lay  on  our 
oars,  and  the  boat  drifted  slowly  in,  the  tide  being  no  longer 
strong ;  after  it  had  almost  ceased  we  pulled  out  slowly,  keeping 
a  little  farther  from  Sumter  than  when  we  entered.  I  had  the 
idea  that  we  saw  a  small  tug  lying  against  the  wall.  Passing 
out  slowly,  a  black  object  appeared  quite  suddenly  on  our  port 
bow,  some  thirty  yards  distant.  On  approaching  it,  we  found 
a  number  of  barrel  buoys  blackened  by  a  coating  of  coal-tar, 
huddled  together,  as  I  had  observed  from  the  shore  at  certain 
stages  of  the  tide.  We  cut  some  of  the  rotten  ropes  that  hung 
as  pennants  from  the  head-rope  connecting  the  buoys,  and  took 
a  quantity  of  it  on  board  of  the  Ironsides.  The  next  morning 
I  went  to  the  flag-ship  and  informed  the  admiral,  who  seemed 
incredulous ;  I  told  him  that  I  was  an  old  hydrographic  sur- 
veyor, and  knew  just  where  I  had  been  and  what  I  had  seen, 
especially  as  the  position  of  the  light  on  the  north  end  of  Morris 
Island  affirmed  my  position.     If  he  wished  to  enter  the  harbor 


A   COUNCIL   OF  WAR.  377 

at  any  time  with  the  monitors,  I  would  guarantee  to  cut  all  the 
barrel  buoys  from  the  ropes  and  they  would  sink  where  they 
were,  and  would  not  foul  anything.  The  object  in  placing  these 
ropes  was  to  foul  the  propellers  of  vessels  entering  the  harbor. 
He  still  suggested  "running  down  the  obstructions"  with  the 
side-wheel  steamer,  and  I  insisted  that  there  were  no  obstruc- 
tions in  the  main  channel  other  than  the  ropes  supported  by  the 
buoys,  although  there  might  be,  and  probably  were,  torpedoes  to 
explode  by  contact,  or  by  wires  from  the  shore.  We  afterwards 
learned  that  there  were  heavy  boom  obstructions  in  the  Hog 
Island  channel,  close  under  Mount  Pleasant,  linked  together  by 
railroad  iron.  They  subsequently  broke  adrift  in  a  heavy  gale 
and  high  tide,  and  were  thrown  up  on  Morris  Island. 

As  stated  in  the  memoirs  of  Admiral  Dahlgren,  he  held  a 
council  of  war  on  the  22d  of  October.  Of  this  he  says,  "  There 
were  eight  captains  of  iron-clads  and  two  staff  officers.  The 
object  was  not  to  have  the  advice  myself,  but  to  comply  with 
the  request  of  the  Secretary,  who  asked  for  the  opinion  of  these 
officers.  It  began  at  eleven  and  finished  at  five.  The  four 
junior  officers  voted  for  an  attack  with  seven  iron-clads.  The 
six  seniors  were  averse.  The  intelligence  was  largely  with  the 
latter.  ...  So  my  views  were  sustained.  The  majority  were 
for  waiting  till  reinforcements  arrived  in  December." 

Dahlgren  had  been  ordered  to  the  command  with  the  implied 
obligation  of  taking  Charleston  with  the  iron-clads.  In  speak- 
ing to  me  privately  of  entering  the  harbor,  about  the  time  of 
the  council  mentioned,  he  clung  to  the  idea  of  anchoring  near 
the  little  fort,  Ripley,  only  half-way  between  Sumter  and  the 
city.  I  insisted  that  the  monitors,  if  anchored  there,  would  be 
exposed  to  an  all-round  fire  within  damaging  distance.  If  they 
entered  they  should  go  up  Cooper  River  and  into  Town  Creek, 
to  cut  the  railroad  communication  with  the  interior.  It  seemed  to 
me  an  injudicious  move  even  with  an  increased  force,  on  account 
of  the  probable  loss  of  some  of  them  by  grounding,  and  of  others 
through  torpedoes  and  by  capture,  in  which  case,  when  repaired 
they  would  have  furnished  the  enemy  with  the  means  of  breaking 
the  legality  of  our  blockade,  a  condition  that  would  have  been 
gladly  acknowledged  by  both  Great  Britain  and  France. 


378  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Sent  North  by  the  Admiral — Rumors  of  relieving  Admiral  Dahlgren  of  his 
Command — Report  of  Officers  under  Admiral  Dahlgren  to  the  Navy  De- 
partment— Courts-Martial  and  Courts  of  Inquiry — Ordered  to  Temporary 
Command  of  the  Shenandoah — She  goes  to  Philadelphia  to  be  put  out  of 
Commission — Lieutenant-General  Grant  visits  Rear- Admiral  Lee,  on  the 
Minnesota,  at  Hampton  Roads — Leaves  an  Invitation  for  Commander 
Ammen  to  visit  him  at  Culpeper — Letter  from  General  Grant — Yisit  Mrs. 
Grant — Yisit  General  Grant  at  Culpeper — Details  of  Yisit — Talk  of  Boy- 
hood Days — Ride  over  the  Country — General  Grant's  Opinion  of  Generals 
Lee,  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  and  Bragg — Present  of  a  Meerschaum  Pipe — 
Return  to  Baltimore. 

A  few  days  after  the  council  the  admiral  sent  me  on  a 
visit  North  to  state  verbally  to  the  Department  the  condition 
of  affairs.  There  were  rumors  of  an  intention  to  relieve  him 
of  his  command ;  but  he  still  held  it  up  to  the  evacuation  of 
Charleston.  On  January  11,  1864,  Dahlgren' s  diary  states, 
"  Among  the  letters  was  one  from  the  Secretary  and  one  from 
Fox,  both  prodigiously  flattering,  and  asking  for  a  good  char- 
acter for  the  monitors."  The  Department  published  at  that 
time  a  large  volume  entitled  "  Armored  Vessels,"  made  up  from 
newspaper  correspondence  and  other  authorities,  but  said  nothing 
of  a  report  made  in  common  by  all  the  officers  who  had  com- 
manded them  up  to  that  time,  with  the  exception  of  Drayton 
and  Worden,  who  afterwards  read  the  report  and  entirely  con- 
curred in  its  statements.  There  were  minor  differences  of  opin- 
ion in  relation  to  the  monitors.  Commander  G.  W.  Kodgers 
thought  the  ground-tackle  insufficient,  from  the  vessel  under 
his  command  dragging  several  times  when  at  anchor  in  Edisto, 
and  I  thought  we  could  anchor  within  Charleston  bar  and  re- 
main there,  which  was  dissented  from  by  the  other  commanders, 
and  really  only  became  practicable  by  having  high  coamings 
to  the  hatches  and  leaving  the  hatches  off  when  lying  at  anchor. 
The  report,  written  at  the  request  of  the  Department,  and  never 
hitherto  published  in  full,  is  as  follows : 


REPORT  OF  OFFICERS   TO    THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT.    379 

North  Edisto  Harbor,  S.  C,  May  15,  1863. 

Sir, — We  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  request  of 
the  Department,  through  Rear-Admiral  Dupont,  that  we  should  report 
frequently  with  regard  to  the  qualities  of  the  vessels  we  command,  and 
make  any  suggestions  which  experience  may  dictate  for  their  improve- 
ment. 

Believing  that  it  would  better  serve  the  purposes  of  the  Department  to 
make  a  report  in  common,  as  far  as  there  was  no  difference  of  opinion,  we 
beg  leave  to  submit  the  following : 

1st.  The  ventilation  does  not  appear  to  be  sufficient.  This  subject  is 
one  of  much  importance,  and  deserves  great  consideration. 

2d.  In  the  greater  number  of  the  vessels,  in  rough  weather,  the  leakage 
of  water  under  the  turret  is  a  serious  defect ;  wetting  the  blower-belts,  it 
causes  them  to  stretch,  stopping  or  retarding  the  blowers,  with  great 
injury  to  health,  if  not  with  actual  danger  of  suffocation,  causing  reduc- 
tion of  steam,  with  detriment  to  management  of  vessel. 

3d.  The  groove  of  the  keel  appears  to  be  insufficient  to  carry  off  any 
considerable  volume  of  water  from  leaks  which  may  occur  forward  or 
elsewhere ;  thus  great  danger  may  arise  to  the  vessel  from  the  water  not 
reaching  the  pumps.  We  would  recommend  that  a  hand-pump  of  as 
great  lifting  power  as  possible  should  be  conveniently  fixed  for  use  when 
the  boilers  are  not  in  operation. 

4th.  The  compass  is  so  sluggish  as  not  to  indicate  the  position  of  the 
ship's  head  until  some  time  after  being  on  a  given  point,  making  its  use 
quite  unsatisfactory,  and,  as  a  guide,  quite  unreliable, — indeed,  at  sea 
without  an  object  ahead,  almost  useless.  This  is  believed  to  be  caused  by 
its  nearness  (four  feet)  to  heavy  masses  of  iron.  In  some  states  of  the 
atmosphere  the  mirrors  used  for  reflecting  the  compass  are  almost 
useless. 

5th.  We  would  recommend  a  spare  grapnel-anchor,  such  as  now  used 
in  this  class,  with  the  bolted  or  screwed  arms  unscrewed,  to  enable  it  to  be 
stowed  below,  and  when  required  it  could  be  speedily  fitted  for  use.  This 
would  require  for  working  it  a  fish-davit  of  sufficient  length  to  clear  the 
side,  with  a  gin-block  capable  of  taking  the  chain. 

6th.  It  is  regarded  as  desirable,  if  not  absolutely  necessary,  that  the 
means  for  heaving  the  lead  in  a  sea-way  should  be  provided,  and,  as  of 
the  highest  importance,  that  the  soundings  can  be  obtained  when  under 
the  fire  of  the  enemy. 

7th.  When  the  vessel  is  prepared  for  action  the  galley-pipe  is  removed, 
and,  as  this  is  necessarily  the  case  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy,  difficulty 
in  cooking  food  for  the  men  is  experienced.  As  this  may  be  the  case  for 
a  considerable  length  of  time,  it  is  suggested  that  the  galley  smoke-pipe 
should  be  run  into  the  smoke-stack  below  deck.  This  would  make  it 
necessary  to  change  the  place  of  the  galley,  to  an  after  coal-bunker  per- 
haps, and  to  supply  it  with  a  proper  ventilation. 


380  THE  0LD  XAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

8th.  The  liability  of  the  turret  to  cease  to  revolve  after  receiving  heavy 
blows  has  given  us  much  solicitude  ;  other  damages  from  the  same  cause 
have  been  received,  tending  to  destroy  our  aggressive  power,  as  breaking 
the  inside  ring  which  supports  the  end  of  the  gun-rails,  thus  allowing 
them  to  settle  and  disabling  the  gun.  In  another  case  a  blow  on  the 
turret  jammed  a  port-stopper,  preventing  entirely  the  use  of  the  gun 
during  the  action. 

A  few  small  slits  in  the  turret  to  enable  the  officer  fighting  the  guns  to 
see  the  horizon  at  different  points,  would  do  much  to  render  the  fire 
quicker  than  at  present.  If  the  space  admitted  of  it,  a  means  of  passing 
ammunition  without  the  necessity  of  laying  the  turret  on  particular 
angles,  and  of  communicating  by  voice  and  otherwise  with  the  turret- 
chamber  from  the  pilot-house  without  making  noise  and  delay,  would 
render  the  fire  quicker,  and  passing  orders  far  less  liable  to  mistake. 

9th.  The  sight-holes  of  the  pilot-house  do  not  give  the  view  actually 
necessary  to  judge  of  distances,  observe  the  effect  of  the  fire,  make  a 
proper  reconnoissance,  or  to  manoeuvre  with  other  vessels  under  fire  ; 
narrow  horizontal  slits,  sufficient  in  length  to  give  an  extended  view  over 
considerable  arcs,  appear  necessary  to  these  objects. 

10th.  The  deck-plating  should  be  thicker,  and  the  top  of  the  turret  and 
of  the  pilot-house  stronger,  than  at  present. 

11th.  The  great  loss  in  speed  of  iron  vessels  in  salt  water  from  fouling 
the  bottom  is  well  known.  Already  these  vessels  have  little  more  than 
half  the  speed  with  the  same  number  of  revolutions  that  they  had  when 
put  in  commission. 

12th.  In  regard  to  the  armament,  we  speak  with  more  diffidence.  At  a 
distance  of  about  eight  hundred  yards,  thought  necessary  for  effective 
practice  against  brickwork,  we  found  the  vessels  liable  to  such  injuries 
as  would  in  a  short  time  disable  them  5  indeed,  a  part  of  them  were 
rendered  unserviceable  for  the  time. 

The  average  time  required  to  load,  point,  and  fire  the  fifteen-inch  gun 
in  action  does  not  vary  much  from  seven  minutes  ;  it  must  be  remembered 
that  this  controls  the  fire  of  the  lighter  piece,  or,  if  that  be  fired  oftener, 
it  retards  further  the  slow  firing  of  the  heavy  gun.  We  regard  a  smaller 
calibre  with  a  larger  proportional  charge  of  powder  as  desirable,  at  least 
when  used  against  brickwork  or  stone. 

13th.  The  gun-carriage  is  easily  worked,  but  quite  liable  to  get  out  of 
order,  nor  do  we  suppose  it  possible  in  a  sea-way  to  work  the  guns  with 
the  present  arrangements,  even  bearing  in  mind  Mr.  Ericsson's  suggestion 
that  it  was  expected  that  under  such  circumstances  the  guns  should  be 
laid  fore  and  aft. 

14th.  It  is  said  that  decks  of  logs,  to  be  covered  with  half-inch  plate- 
iron,  are  now  being  fitted  for  these  vessels,  without  the  intention  of  cut- 
ting openings  (to  be  taken  out  when  deemed  desirable)  over  the  air-ports 
or  the  hatches.     If  such  is  the  case,  we  do  not  doubt  the  result  will  be 


REPORT  OF  OFFICERS   TO   THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT.    381 

most  unfortunate,  involving  the  loss  of  life  and  of  health  to  those  serving 
on  board. 

15th.  Bulwarks  of  boiler-iron,  sufficiently  thick  to  protect  from  rifle- 
shots, appear  to  be  necessary  when  these  vessels  are  employed  on  rivers 
whose  banks  furnish  ambuscades;  without  them,  the  crews  would  be  con- 
fined below,  and  suffer  the  inevitable  consequence  of  a  loss  of  health,  or, 
if  allowed  to  come  on  deck,  without  effecting  an  object,  many  would  fall 
victims  to  the  fire  of  sharp-shooters. 

We  have  confined  ourselves  to  indicating  such  points  as  appear  to  us 
worthy  of  consideration :  in  relation  to  the  remedies,  no  doubt  a  diversity 
of  opinion  must  exist. 

In  relation  to  the  qualities  of  the  vessels,  we  would  remark  that  they 
have  been  exaggerated  into  vessels  capable  of  keeping  the  seas  and  making 
long  voyages  alone.  Some  of  us  have  been  in  heavy  gales  in  them,  and 
indeed,  from  the  amount  of  water  in  them,  have  had  grave  apprehensions 
of  their  loss.  A  gale  of  wind  in  them  is  by  no  means  free  from  appre- 
hension, even  when  the  material  is  new  and  before  the  vessel  has  been 
weakened  by  working  in  a  sea-way ;  the  strength  of  material  must  always 
be  severely  tested  in  rough  weather  by  the  overhangs  and  the  submerged 
guards.  If  a  leak  is  sprung  from  this  cause,  a  very  short  time  will  elapse 
before  the  vessel  goes  down.  Before  the  wind  in  a  heavy  sea,  these 
vessels  are  comparatively  very  easy ;  if  caught  near  a  lee  shore  in  a 
heavy  gale,  even  in  tow  of  a  powerful  steamer,  their  loss  would  be  almost 
a  certainty. 

When  employed  against  vessels  of  any  class  known  to  us,  in  smooth 
harbors,  they  will  hardly  fail  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  effective,  and, 
when  their  bottoms  are  clean,  would  prove  powerful  rams  against  vessels 
of  low  velocity,  or  against  vessels  of  greater  velocity  when  embarrassed 
in  intricate  or  narrow  channels. 

Possessing  the  advantage  of  a  secure  harbor,  and  choosing  their  time 
of  exit,  these  vessels  can,  in  our  opinion,  greatly  harass  a  blockading 
force,  making  it  necessary  for  wooden  vessels  to  withdraw  to  such  dis- 
tances from  the  entrance  of  the  harbors,  especially  after  night,  as  would 
make  the  blockade  very  ineffective  against  the  entrance  of  steamers. 
We  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  etc., 

Jno.  Rodgers,  Captain  Weehawken. 

Dan'l  Ammen,  Commander  Patapsco. 

Geo.  W.  Rodgers,  Commander  Catskill. 

D.  M.  Fairfax,  Commander  Montauk. 

Jno.  Downes,  Commander  Nahant. 
Hon.  Gideon  Welles, 

Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

My  time,  and  that  of  several  other  spare  officers,  was  princi- 
pally taken  up  in  courts  of  inquiry  and  courts-martial,  held  on 


382  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

board  of  the  Wabash,  outside  of  the  harbor  bar,  five  miles  from 
the  Philadelphia,  the  flag-ship,  a  river-steamer  lying  in  Light- 
House  Inlet,  which  had  from  three  to  six  feet  of  water  at  the  en- 
trance, according  to  the  state  of  the  tide.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  we  would  be  taken  across  Light-House  Inlet  bar  in  a 
small  boat,  then  transferred  to  a  tug,  in  which  we  crossed  the 
bar  of  the  harbor,  and  finally  taken  alongside  of  the  Wabash  in 
a  ship's  boat.  As  the  vessel  was  anchored  in  the  open  sea,  we 
would  have  to  watch  our  chance  in  rough  seas,  with  the  vessel 
rolling,  to  get  up  her  side  without  injury.  After  getting  on 
board  we  were  seated  in  a  cabin  that  was  kept  insufferably  hot, 
until  the  time  of  re-embarkation,  usually  after  sunset,  when, 
with  the  reverse  operation,  we  would  reach  the  Philadelphia, 
cold  and  wet  from  the  spray  breaking  over  the  gunwale  of  the 
boat  in  crossing  the  bar.  This  exposure  soon  brought  on  my 
rheumatism  again,  and  on  application  I  was  ordered  North,  and 
applied  for  duty  on  the  off-shore  blockade,  where  I  would  not 
be  so  much  exposed  as  immediately  along  the  coast-line. 

In  February,  1864,  I  was  ordered  to  the  temporary  command 
of  the  Shenandoah,  then  undergoing  repairs  at  the  Norfolk 
Navy- Yard,  with  the  expectation  of  going  to  sea  on  the  off- 
shore blockade  between  the  Bermudas  and  Wilmington  :  but  the 
repairs  were  of  such  a  nature  that  the  vessel  did  not  get  to  sea 
at  all  until  about  the  20th  of  April,  when  I  took  her  to  Phila- 
delphia to  be  put  out  of  commission  for  further  repairs. 

Grant  had  been  made  lieutenant-general,  and  on  the  17th  of 
March  had  taken  command  of  all  our  armies,  with  head-quarters 
at  Culpeper  Court-House,  Virginia.  A  month  later  he  paid  a 
visit  to  Rear- Admiral  Lee,  on  board  of  the  Minnesota,  lying  in 
Hampton  Roads.  He  inquired  after  me,  and  expressed  a  desire 
to  see  me  then,  but,  as  his  time  was  limited,  said  to  the  admiral 
he  hoped  I  would  pay  him  a  visit  at  Culpeper  as  soon  as  possible. 
A  few  days  later,  when  on  my  way  to  Philadelphia  in  command 
of  the  Shenandoah,  the  admiral  gave  me  this  message,  and  I 
showed  him  a  letter  from  General  Grant,  as  follows : 

Nashville,  Tennessee,  February  16,  1864. 
Dear  Ammen, — Your  letter  was  duly  received,  and  advice  fully  appreci- 
ated, particularly  as  it  is  the  same  I  would  give  any  friend :  i.e.}  to  avoid 


VISIT  MRS.  GRANT.  383 

all  political  entanglements.  I  have  always  thought  the  most  slavish  life 
any  man  could  lead  was  that  of  a  politician.  Besides,  I  do  not  believe  any 
man  can  be  successful  as  a  soldier  whilst  he  has  an  anchor  ahead  for 
other  advancement.  I  know  of  no  circumstance  likely  to  arise  which 
would  induce  me  to  accept  of  any  political  office  whatever.  My  only  de- 
sire will  be,  as  it  has  been,  to  whip  out  the  rebellion  in  the  shortest  way 
possible,  and  to  retain  as  high  a  position  in  the  army  afterward  as  the 
administration  then  in  power  may  think  me  suitable  for. 

I  was  truly  glad  to  hear  from  you.  I  was  once  on  leave  of  absence  at 
the  same  time  you  were,  and  went  from  Clermont  County  to  Cincinnati 
more  to  see  you  than  for  any  other  purpose.  When  I  got  there,  found 
you  had  gone  to  Ripley  by  river.  I  believe  the  last  time  we  met  was  in 
Philadelphia,  in  1843.  We  have  both  grown  older  since,  though  time  sets 
very  lightly  with  me.  I  am  neither  gray  nor  bald,  nor  do  I  feel  any 
different  from  what  I  did  at  twenty-five.  I  have  often  wished  that  you 
had  been  selected  to  command  the  Mississippi  flotilla.  I  have  no  fault  to 
find,  however,  with  the  naval  officers  who  co-operated  with  me.  I  think 
Porter,  Phelps,  and  some  of  the  younger  officers  as  clever  men  as  I  ever 
fell  in  with.  I  cannot  complain  of  them,  certainly,  for  I  never  made 
a  request  of  them  that  they  did  not  comply  with,  no  matter  what  the 
danger.  I  know  I  caused  Porter  to  lose  one  gun-boat  against  his  judgment, 
and  he  never  found  fault. 

Remember  me  to  Mrs.  Vandyke's  family,  and  any  other  friends  of 
mine  in  Cincinnati.     I  will  be  very  glad  to  hear  from  you  again. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 


After  the  admiral  had  read  the  letter  I  remarked  how  ap- 
preciative the  general  was  of  Porter's  co-operation,  and  asked  if 
I  might  say,  in  case  I  visited  him  at  Culpeper,  as  I  would  do  if 
convenient,  that  all  the  admiral's  available  forces  would  be  sub- 
ordinated to  the  movements  of  the  army  against  Richmond. 
The  admiral  replied,  "  Certainly :  I  will  do  all  that  I  can  to 
aid  him." 

In  a  day  or  so  I  reached  Philadelphia  and  delivered  the  Shen- 
andoah at  the  navy-yard.  Before  leaving  the  city  for  Baltimore, 
I  made  a  short  visit  to  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  to  pay  my 
respects  to  Mrs.  Grant.  The  occasion  was  opportune,  as  it  was 
the  27th  of  April,  the  birthday  of  the  general.  I  wrote  to  him 
of  my  visit  to  his  household,  and  told  him  that  I  would  be  in 
Baltimore  for  a  few  days ;  if  he  would  send  a  pass  I  would  hope 
to  pay  him  a  visit.     The  pass  arrived  without  delay,  and  I  left 


384         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

the  next  morning  for  Culpeper.  On  my  arrival  in  the  afternoon, 
the  general  received  me  very  cordially,  remarked  that  it  was 
nearly  twenty-one  years  since  we  had  met  at  Philadelphia,  and 
turned  me  over  to  Colonel  Badeau,  an  old  acquaintance,  sug- 
gesting that  he  should  take  me  to  Pony  Hill.  We  were  soon 
mounted,  and,  accompanied  by  several  officers,  rode  to  the  top 
of  the  hill,  some  three  miles  distant  to  the  southwest,  and  saw 
the  field-works  of  the  enemy  across  the  Papidan.  About  ten 
o'clock  the  general  sent  for  me,  and  we  were  alone  until  some 
time  after  midnight ;  he  spoke  of  our  boyhood,  of  the  persons 
whom  we  knew  in  common,  and,  later,  concerning  army  move- 
ments. 

An  important  object  of  my  visit,  although  not  at  all  official, 
was  to  assure  an  effective  co-operation  of  our  naval  forces.  I 
told  him  that  I  had  been  authorized  by  Admiral  Lee  to  say 
that,  apart  from  the  force  requisite  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
blockade  on  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  all  other  vessels  under 
his  command  would  be  subordinated,  as  far  as  desired,  to  sup- 
port army  movements  in  any  manner  suggested. 

Breakfasting  the  following  morning  with  the  general  and  his 
staff,  he  proposed  a  ride  with  me.  We  were  accompanied  by 
one  orderly  only.  The  course  chosen  was  first  to  the  northeast, 
and  after  passing  over  some  miles  we  turned  to  the  right.  The 
country  was  an  undulating  plain,  almost  denuded  of  wood,  and 
wholly  destitute  of  fences.  Here  and  there  were  encamped  the 
different  army  corps  that  composed  the  principal  part  of  the 
force  that  was  about  to  cross  the  Papidan.  The  general  rode 
the  finest  horse,  as  he  told  me  then  and  afterwards,  that  he  had 
ever  mounted, — a  large,  powerful  bay.  He  was  a  half-brother 
of  the  famous  Lexington,  and  was  named  Cincinnati.  The  gen- 
eral spoke  of  his  intended  movement  on  Richmond,  and  said 
that  our  army  in  the  valley  was  already  on  the  march,  and  that 
on  the  following  day  as  I  returned  to  Washington  I  would  meet 
Burnside's  corps ;  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  state  the  number 
of  his  army,  but  it  was  as  large  as  he  thought  himself  able 
to  command,  bearing  in  mind  the  difficulties  of  transportation. 
Were  the  troops  with  their  supply-trains  to  be  placed  along  the 
line  of  road  to  Richmond,  which  I  think  he  said  was  seventy 


RIDE   OVER   THE   COUNTRY.  385 

miles,  the  head  of  the  army  would  be  there  before  the  rear  had 
crossed  the  Rapidan :  he  added,  humorously,  that  he  did  not 
expect  to  reach  Richmond  in  that  order. 

In  reply  to  my  inquiry,  he  said  he  supposed  he  had  very  reli- 
able information  as  to  the  force  of  General  Lee.  As  I  remember, 
he  reckoned  it  at  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  in- 
cluding the  local  forces  in  Richmond  and  Petersburg.  He  did 
not  regard  General  Lee  as  the  ablest  general  of  the  South ;  he, 
however,  possessed  the  entire  confidence  and  indeed  affection  of 
every  one  under  his  command,  and  such  a  man  could  not  be  an 
indifferent  commander  to  meet.  He  considered  General  Joseph 
E.  Johnston  as  a  very  able  commander.  Bragg,  regarded  simply 
in  the  light  of  a  soldier,  he  thought  very  able ;  he  was,  however, 
so  thoroughly  detested  by  the  people  of  the  South  that  he  would 
never  prove  a  formidable  adversary. 

After  a  ride  of  three  hours,  having  passed  over  more  than 
fifteen  miles,  we  approached  Culpeper  from  the  general  direction 
of  Pony  Hill.  As  we  passed  another  army  corps,  the  general 
remarked,  with  something  akin  to  enthusiasm,  that  he  had  the 
most  thoroughly  equipped  army  for  field-work  that  he  thought 
could  be  found  on  the  globe ;  he  would  do  the  best  he  could 
with  it ;  according  to  the  newspapers,  certain  officers  had  said, 
give  them  this  or  that  number  of  troops,  and  they  would  do 
this  or  that,  but  he  would  only  promise  to  do  his  best.  Some 
of  our  officers  after  a  battle  thought  it  impossible  to  move  again 
until  they  were  again  thoroughly  prepared,  apparently  forgetful 
that  the  enemy  wras  making  the  best  use  of  his  time  also ;  the 
result  of  an  engagement  was  often  only  a  question  of  relative 
exhaustion  of  resources ;  if  the  enemy's  forces  were  worse  off 
than  his  own  as  the  result  of  a  battle,  he  saw  no  reason  why 
the  enemy  should  not  be  pressed  at  once,  notwithstanding  any 
deficiencies  in  his  own  preparation. 

That  evening,  which  was  Saturday,  I  was  with  the  general  at 
an  earlier  hour  than  the  preceding ;  he  had  a  meerschaum  pipe 
which  he  was  smoking,  and  which  he  presented  me,  stating  that 
it  had  been  purchased  in  Germany  for  him  by  request,  but  that 
it  was  too  cumbersome  for  the  field. 

I  left  Culpeper  in  the  morning  train  on  Sunday,  and  the  same 

25 


38 Q  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

evening  reached  Baltimore,  where  I  had  a  neuralgic  attack  for 
several  days,  followed  by  a  badly-swollen  face.  Ten  days  after 
reaching  Baltimore,  I  received  a  telegram  from  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment directing  me  to  take  charge  of  a  draft  of  seamen  on  board 
of  the  Panama  steamer  Ocean  Queen,  off  the  Battery,  New 
York,  on  the  13th  of  May. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

In  Charge  of  a  Draft  of  Men  on  board  the  Ocean  Queen— Boatswain  Bell 
reports  for  Duty  with  Two  Hundred  and  Twenty  Men— The  Steamer  gets 
under  Way— At  Midnight  the  Commander  is  sent  for  by  some  of  the  Men 

They  complain  of  having  to  sleep  on  Deck — Assault  upon  the  Captain 

and  Chief  Engineer— Statement  of  Commander  Ammen— Justice  Field,  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  a  Passenger— Desertions  at  Aspinwall— 
Eeturn  in  the  Ocean  Queen  to  New  York  from  Panama,  and  make  a  Full 
Keport  to  the  Navy  Department— Pvem arks  on  the  Mutiny— The  Court- 
Martial — Courts-Martial  organized,  one  to  acquit  and  one  to  condemn — 
Decline  to  employ  Counsel— Letter  from  General  Grant— In  command  of 
the  Mohican— A  Clerk— A  Swiss  Steward  who  receives  more  Pay  than  the 
Commanding  Officer. 

I  had  barely  time  to  reach  New  York  at  the  hour  named, 
and,  either  from  having  lost  my  satchel  or  from  having  checked 
it,  I  went  on  board  of  the  Ocean  Queen  without  other  clothing 
than  that  in  which  I  stood,  and  was  indebted  to  a  fellow-passen- 
ger for  a  change  of  linen.  On  my  reaching  the  Ocean  Queen, 
or  soon  after,  a  tug  came  alongside,  and  Boatswain  Bell  reported 
to  me  for  duty :  he  was  in  charge  of  two  hundred  and  twenty 
men,  the  greater  number  of  whom  had  been  serving  in  the  army 
and  through  a  recent  order  had  been  allowed  to  volunteer  for 
the  navy  if  they  were  seamen.  Many  worthless  fellows  called 
themselves  seamen,  and  "  Liverpool  wharf-rats"  formed  a  not  in- 
considerable part  of  the  number  :  a  more  audacious  and  criminal 
set  it  would,  as  a  whole,  have  been  difficult  to  assemble  outside 
of  the  walls  of  a  prison.  Perhaps  half  the  number  of  the  draft 
had  some  actual  knowledge  of  sea  duties.  As  soon  as  the  men 
were  mustered  over  the  snip's  side  the  Ocean  Queen  got  under 


STATEMENT  OF  COMMANDER  AMMEN.  387 

way.  The  evening  was  cold  and  wet  as  we  got  to  sea.  At  mid- 
night I  was  called  by  the  officer  who  had  been  relieved  from 
watch  :  he  said  that  several  men  of  the  draft  wished  to  see  me  on 
deck.  I  inquired  what  they  wished,  and  was  informed  that  he 
did  not  know.  I  dressed  hastily,  and,  going  on  deck,  was  met 
by  four  men.  I  asked  them  why  they  -wished  to  see  me.  A 
man  about  thirty  years  of  age,  more  than  six  feet  in  height,  and 
well  built,  was  spokesman.  Their  complaint  was  of  the  hard- 
ship of  being  compelled  to  sleep  on  deck,  although  they  were 
entirely  sheltered  from  the  weather  by  the  hurricane-deck.  Call- 
ing me  at  that  hour  was  iu  fact  only  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  the 
man  they  had  to  deal  with  in  carrying  out  an  intended  mutiny. 
A  meeting  had  already  been  held  by  them  to  ascertain  who  among 
them  could  run  the  engines  after  they  had  taken  possession  of 
the  vessel.  Thirty-six  hours  later,  fifteen  or  twenty  of  the 
leaders  were  in  the  port  gangway  of  the  Ocean  Queen,  and  two 
of  the  four  men  who  had  me  called  at  midnight  had  the  captain 
and  chief  engineer  actually  by  their  throats,  and  were  thrusting 
them  back  from  the  gangway,  when  I  gave  the  order  to  fire  on 
them,  and  shot  the  spokesman,  who  was  the  leader  in  the  attack. 
In  order  to  place  the  occurrence  before  the  reader  more  concisely 
and  clearly  than  I  could  otherwise  do,  I  give  the  statement  made 
by  me  on  my  trial  by  court-martial,  following  it  with  such 
further  explanations  as  seem  necessary  to  a  clear  comprehension 
of  the  aifair. 

The  evidence  in  my  case  is  now  before  you.  It  is  ample,  and,  I  trust, 
has  convinced  you  that  my  conduct  in  the  matter  was  justified  by  the 
circumstances,  and  that,  in  connection  with  the  steps  taken  by  Captain 
Tinklepaugh,  it  prevented  a  fearful  scene  of  disorder,  and  possibly  of 
national  reproach  and  disgrace. 

I  have  no  desire  or  design  to  avoid,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  responsi- 
bility which  rests  upon  me.  I  acted  as  my  convictions  of  duty  prompted  ; 
I  could  not  have  done  less  than  I  did  without  self-reproach  ;  and,  whatever 
the  event,  I  shall  always  be  sustained  by  an  inward  consciousness  that  I 
did  my  duty, — my  whole  duty. 

In  order  to  enable  you  the  better  to  appreciate  the  circumstances  under 
which  I  acted,  I  propose  now  to  give  you  a  clear  and  connected  statement 
of  the  facts  as  they  appeared  to  me. 

I  was  ordered  by  the  Navy  Department  to  take  passage  on  board  the 
Ocean  Queen,  on  Friday,  May  13,  to  receive  on  board  that  vessel  and  take 


388  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE   NEW. 

charge  of  a  draft  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  men,  intended  for  the  Pacific 
Squadron,  to  accompany  them  to  Panama,  and,  after  delivering  them  to 
the  senior  officer  present  at  that  point,  to  return  to  New  York. 

Boatswain  Thomas  G.  Bell,  of  the  navy,  was  ordered  to  assist  me.  No 
marine  guard  or  other  assistants  were  assigned.  The  draft  came  from 
Philadelphia,  and  (although  it  was  not  in  evidence)  was  principally  com- 
posed of  men  who  had  been  transferred  from  the  army  a  short  time  before. 

The  Ocean  Queen  left  the  wharf  at  New  York  at  about  one  o'clock  p.m. 
She  had  on  board  (as  Captain  Tinklepaugh  has  informed  you)  about  one 
thousand  and  forty  passengers,  excluding  the  draft ;  about  one-third  were 
women  and  children.  It  had  been  arranged  that  the  draft  should  be 
received  on  board  after  the  steamer  left  the  wharf,  and  it  was  so  done. 

It  is  proper  here  to  explain  that  on  board  that  steamer  the  steerage  and 
cabin  passengers  are  divided  from  each  other  by  means  on  the  starboard 
side  of  a  fixed  bulkhead,  and  on  the  port  side  by  a  lattice,  in  which  there 
is  a  gateway ;  and,  by  the  rules  of  the  vessel,  all  steerage  passengers  are 
forbidden  to  come  abaft  these  bulkheads.  The  men  composing  the  draft 
were  steerage  passengers.  Owing  to  the  crowded  state  of  the  steerage, 
the  starboard  side  of  the  spar-deck,  under  the  hurricane-deck,  was  appro- 
priated exclusively  to  the  men  under  my  charge.  Although  uncomfortable 
and  crowded,  I  should  have  much  preferred,  at  that  season  of  the  year 
and  for  that  voyage,  living  and  sleeping  there,  to  occupying  a  berth  in  the 
steerage. 

About  midnight  that  night  I  was  called  and  told  that  my  people  wished 
to  see  me.  I  at  once  dressed  and  went  on  deck,  where  I  was  met  by  four 
men,  two  of  whom  I  remember  as  John  Kclley  and  Alfred  Bussell,  sea- 
men (the  deceased),  who  told  me  they  were  uncomfortable,  had  no  place 
to  sleep,  and  therefore  had  to  wander  about  the  decks ;  they  finally  said 
that  whiskey  would  make  it  all  right. 

I  replied  that  I  knew  they  were  uncomfortable ;  that  in  a  day  or  two 
we  would  be  in  a  pleasant  latitude  ;  and  that,  in  the  mean  while,  I  would 
see  what  could  be  done  to  make  them  less  uncomfortable  ;  but  that  whiskey 
was  quite  out  of  the  question,  as  it  would  make  all  wrong. 

They  left  without  any  manifestation  of  disappointment  or  anger, — per- 
haps impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  interest  I  had  expressed  was  the 
result  of  intimidation,  and  not  of  the  disposition  I  have  to  care  for  the 
comfort  and  well-being  of  those  under  my  command,  and  which  I  regard 
as  a  not  unimportant  part  of  the  duty  of  all  officers  under  whom  men  are 
placed. 

The  following  morning  (Saturday)  all  of  the  draft  that  I  asked  expressed 
themselves  satisfied  with  their  breakfast,  although  I  found  on  inquiry  that 
no  vegetables  had  formed  a  part  of  it.  I  soon  made  a  request  to  Captain 
Tinklepaugh  on  this  subject,  which  he  at  once  agreed  to. 

In  the  afternoon,  at  dinner,  there  was  dissatisfaction, — at  least  on  the 
part  of  twelve  or  fifteen,  who  threw  overboard  a  number  of  pots  and  pans 


STATEMENT  OF  COMMANDER  AMMEN.  389 

containing  food,  and  beat  and  abused  the  servants  of  the  ship  until  they 
refused  to  do  duty.  Chief  among  these  twelve  or  fifteen  were  Kelley  and 
Bussell  (the  deceased) ;  the  object  probably  was  to  prevent  the  better-dis- 
posed men  from  getting  anything  to  eat,  and  thus  to  make  the  dissatisfac- 
tion more  general. 

I  at  once  detailed  a  number  of  the  blacks  belonging  to  the  draft  to 
reset  and  replenish  the  tables,  and  thus  prevented  the  well-disposed  from 
suffering. 

The  captain  of  the  vessel  was,  not  without  cause,  seriously  concerned 
on  account  of  this  mutinous  conduct  and  the  very  menacing  and  disre- 
spectful expressions  of  my  men,  and  told  me  he  felt  much  disposed  to  put 
into  Hampton  Roads  and  put  on  shore  at  least  twelve  or  fifteen,  if  not  all, 
of  the  draft. 

While  I  had  to  admit  that  the  conduct  and  language  of  some  of  them 
were  very  mutinous  and  disrespectful,  I  told  him  I  hoped  he  would  not 
do  this ;  that  the  delay  would  be  great,  and  that  I  felt  satisfied  we  could 
control  the  men. 

The  following  morning  (Sunday,  15th)  the  men  appeared  to  be  entirely 
sober, — the  supply  of  liquor  obtained  through  the  steerage  passengers  hav- 
ing probably  given  out.  Their  breakfast  consisted  of  hard  bread,  boiled 
salt  beef  of  good  quality,  tea  or  coffee,  and  hominy  and  molasses.  I  was 
in  the  act  of  inspecting  their  breakfast,  when  I  was  asked  to  do  so  by 
Alfred  Bussell,  seaman  (the  deceased),  in  the  most  disrespectful  terms  and 
manner.  After  my  inspection  I  became  convinced  that  the  object  of  the 
men  was  a  difficulty  irrespective  of  any  treatment  which  it  was  in  my 
power  to  have  bestowed  upon  them. 

Soon  after  breakfast  I  heard  John  Kelley  and  Alfred  Bussell  (the 
deceased)  in  conversation  with  Boatswain  Bell, — my  assistant  in  charge 
of  the  draft.  They  declared  that  they  had  eaten  nothing  since  they  had 
been  on  board ;  and  that,  if  their  dinner  that  day  was  not  such  as  they 
wished,  they  certainly  would  go  aft  into  the  cabin  and  get  what  they 
desired.  Kelley  said  he  had  once  aided  on  board  of  a  vessel-of-war  to 
knock  down  a  sentry  over  a  spirit-room,  and  that  they  intended  to  do  as 
well  on  board  of  the  Ocean  Queen ;  that  he  knew  there  was  liquor  on 
board,  and  they  intended  to  have  it. 

The  conversation,  though  addressed  to  Mr.  Bell,  was  loud  enough,  and 
evidently  intended  for  my  ear.  I  replied  that  I  hoped  their  dinner  would 
be  all  they  could  ask;  that  I  had  spoken  to  the  captain  on  that  subject; 
but  that  their  proposition  to  go  aft  and  help  themselves  was  quite  out  of 
the  question  ;  and  if  there  was  an  attempt  of  that  kind  they  would  cer- 
tainly be  shot.  They  contemptuously  replied  that  they  were  quite  ac- 
customed to  being  under  fire,  and  felt  no  alarm  whatever ;  and  Kelley 
said  that  they  regarded  me  as  a  very  well  disposed  person ;  that  he  felt 
satisfied  I  would  do  anything  in  my  power  for  their  comfort,  and  therefore 
I  had  not  been  harmed. 


390  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

I  ask  the  court  to  weigh  well  this  conversation,  as  given  by  Mr.  Bell ; 
as  also  the  conversation  about  seven  o'clock  that  morning  between  him 
and  the  same  men  ;  as  also  what  Chief-Engineer  Phelps  has  said  in  re- 
lation to  the  endeavors  of  the  men  to  find  some  one  capable  of  running 
the  engines. 

The  conversation  and  manner  of  the  men  convinced  me  that  they  were 
bent  on  making  serious  trouble ;  it  conveyed  to  me  deep  meaning,  and 
revealed,  or  rather  confirmed  my  belief  in,  the  existence  of  a  plot  and 
purpose,  too  apparent  to  be  doubted,  save  by  a  person  without  sufficient 
nerve  to  meet  the  crisis  when  it  came. 

I  did  not  reply  to  the  last  remark,  so  insulting  to  my  position  and  to 
the  obligations  which  belong  to  the  service  ;  but  I  felt  that  by  this  total 
forgetfulness  of  their  obligations  the  existence  of  the  many  passengers  on 
board  the  vessel  was  seriously  menaced.  I  turned  to  many  of  the  men 
■who  composed  the  draft,  and  told  them  that  if  there  should  be  violence 
on  board  the  vessel  I  hoped  all  the  well-disposed  would  absent  themselves 
from  the  immediate  scene,  and  that  none  should  appear  unless  they 
•wished  to  be  participants :  that  they  would  communicate  what  I  had  just 
said  to  the  other  men,  as  I  would  regret  very  much  if  any  of  them  should 
be  killed  by  accident. 

I  have  to  congratulate  myself  upon  this  forethought,  as  my  advice  was 
implicitly  acted  upon,  not  only  by  those  who  had  no  evil  design,  but  I 
think  also  by  ten  or  fifteen  of  those  who  were  willing  to  abet  the  leaders 
as  far  as  they  could  do  so  without  encountering  the  perils  inseparable 
from  a  violent  contempt  of  my  authority,  and  of  their  obligations  to 
society. 

Shortly  after  this,  Captain  Tinklepaugh  stated  to  me  that  the  attitude 
of  some  of  my  men  convinced  him  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  shoot 
some  of  them  in  order  to  insure  the  safety  of  his  command  and  of  the 
passengers  intrusted  to  his  care,  and  that  he  wished  my  presence  when 
it  became  necessary.  I  told  him  that,  if  the  necessity  arrived,  I  thought 
it  belonged  to  me  to  recognize  it  by  giving  the  order  to  fire,  to  which  he 
assented,  but  added  that  he  hoped  I  would  not  defer  it  until  the  men  over- 
powered us  and  had  actual  possession  of  the  vessel.  I  told  him  I  would 
guard  well  that  point,  and  he  appeared  satisfied,  although  deeply  con- 
cerned for  the  safety  of  his  vessel. 

This  occurred  about  noon  of  May  15, — the  date  of  the  occurrences 
about  to  be  narrated.  Had  Captain  Tinklepaugh  been  less  judicious  in 
making  his  arrangements,  or  less  considerate  in  his  whole  conduct,  I 
could  not  answer  for  what  the  result  might  have  been.  The  necessary 
preparations  were  made  to  meet  an  emergency. 

Dinner-time  (about  two  p.m.)  came.  I  sat  upon  the  hurricane-deck  for- 
ward, overlooking  the  steerage  passengers,  and  would  have  been  blind 
indeed  had  I  not  seen  that  a  crisis  was  at  hand,  from  the  manner  of  the 
people,  who,  huddled  together  with  the  draft,  as  they  necessarily  were, 


STATEMENT  OF  COMMANDER   AMMEN.  391 

could  not  have  failed  to  overhear  somewhat  the  plans  and  expressed  in- 
tentions of  my  men. 

"When  the  dinner  of  the  men  was  reported,  the  boatswain  (Mr.  Bell), 
whom  I  had  previously  instructed  so  to  do,  called  the  principal  malcon- 
tents to  look  at  and  pronounce  upon  it.  It  consisted  of  very  good  fresh 
roast  beef,  boiled  potatoes,  hard  bread  of  excellent  quality,  and  tea  or 
coffee.  John  Kelley  and  Alfred  Bussell  (the  deceased)  pronounced  the 
dinner  satisfactory,  and  added  "  perfectly  so."  Will  the  court  mark  well 
their  words?  for  they  prove  that  they  had  nothing  to  complain  of,  and 
that  all  their  dissatisfaction  had  been  but  a  pretext  for  the  evil  conduct 
intended,  and  which  they  now  proceeded  to  try  to  accomplish. 

These  men  now  proceeded  to  the  port  gangway,  for  the  purpose  of  forcing 
the  gateway.  On  attacking  the  man  placed  to  guard  the  gateway  abaft, 
where  steerage  passengers  are  forbidden  to  go,  they  found  Captain  Tinkle- 
paugh  near  at  hand,  supported  by  Chief-Engineer  Phelps,  Dr.  Gibbs,  of 
the  vessel,  Dr.  Woodward  (a  passenger),  Mr.  Bell  (boatswain),  and  some 
others,  who  had  been  made  aware  of  the  position  of  affairs.  I  was  sent 
for  by  Captain  Tinklepaugh,  and,  passing  over  the  hurricane-deck,  I  arrived 
in  time  to  see  John  Kelley,  seaman,  who  was  probably  six  feet  three 
inches  in  height,  and  strongly  built,  struggling  with  Captain  Tinkle- 
paugh. Alfred  Bussell,  seaman,  was  also  struggling  with  Engineer 
Phelps.  A  third  man,  who  first  tried  to  prevent  an  immediate  attack, 
seeing  that  it  could  not  be  done,  joined  ferociously  with  the  others. 

On  arriving,  I  saw  that  the  authority  of  the  vessel,  as  well  as  my  own 
in  the  person  of  Mr.  Bell,  was  violently  assaulted. 

Section  1st  of  Article  3d  of  the  "Act  for  the  better  government  of  the 
Navy"  is  as  follows:  "  The  punishment  of  death,  or  such  other  punish- 
ment as  a  court-martial  shall  adjudge,  may  be  inflicted  upon  any  person 
in  the  naval  service  who,  being  witness  to,  or  present  at,  any  mutiny, 
shall  not  do  his  utmost  to  suppress  it.'''  Here  was  the  mutiny,  and  I  did 
the  duty  the  law  imposed  upon  me.  I  did  not  hesitate  to  give  the  order 
to  fire  upon  the  mutineers. 

Immediately  upon  reiterating  the  order,  I  fired  with  a  revolver  twice  at 
John  Kelley.  On  the  instant  half  a  dozen  shots  were  fired  by  some  of  the 
other  persons  named  as  present.  The  immediate  death  of  Alfred  Bussell 
and  of  John  Kelley  within  two  or  three  minutes  was  the  result. 

I  passed  almost  immediately  over  the  hurricane-deck,  and  informed  the 
men  under  my  command  that  I  had  a  word  to  say  to  them.  When  they 
had  assembled,  I  stated  that  an  attempt  at  violence  had  been  met  by  force, 
and  two  or  three  of  their  number  had  been  killed,  which  was  perhaps  more 
a  matter  of  regret  to  me  than  to  any  one  of  them  ;  that  I  had  to  thank  all 
but  a  small  number  of  them  for  their  excellent  conduct, — the  more  gratify- 
ing because  it  implied  that  they  felt  that  they  owed  a  duty  to  their  country 
and  to  their  flag.  Three  loud  and  spontaneous  cheers  greeted  me,  ap- 
parently from  every  man  composing  the  draft.     I  trust  that  this  honorable 


392  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

court  will  not  regard  them  as  without  meaning.  The  men  were  now  directed 
to  go  to  their  dinner  ;  they  obeyed',  without  excitement  or  confusion. 

I  had  previously  requested  Captain  Tinklepaugh  to  have  the  dead  men 
decently  laid  out  for  burial,  and  sent  some  of  their  shipmates  to  assist; 
and  the  prayers  of  the  burial  service  were  said  over  them  when  their 
bodies  were  committed  to  the  deep. 

After  dinner,  without  any  aid  or  support,  I  went  among  the  principal 
men  who  had  shown  a  mutinous  disposition,  and  ordered  five  of  them  upon 
the  hurricane-deck,  stating  that  I  wished  to  have  them  put  in  irons.  Four 
made  no  reply ;  the  fifth  said  he  would  not  obey  my  order,  but  changed 
his  mind  when  I  told  him  that  he  would  obey  instantly,  or  I  would  shoot 
him.  The  five  were  ironed,  and  kept  on  bread  and  water  one  or  two  days. 
We  had  no  further  trouble  during  the  voyage  ;  but  when  we  met  the  con- 
voy (the  U.  S.  steamer  Neptune),  I  obtained  a  few  marines,  and  the  follow- 
ing day  put  the  prisoners  on  board  that  vessel.  I  asked  Captain  Sanford, 
of  the  Neptune,  to  receive  them,  not  because  I  had  any  apprehension  of 
further  trouble,  but  because  Captain  Tinklepaugh  requested  it. 

I  have  thus,  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  stated  the  facts  in  the  case  as 
they  appear  to  me.  You  have  the  opinions  of  every  witness  asked,  that 
no  more  was  done  than  was  necessary,  and  that  any  attempt  to  arrest  the 
malcontents  and  confine  them  would  have  resulted  in  our  own  death.  You 
cannot  but  be  convinced  of  the  purposes  of  Kelley  and  Bussell,  and  that, 
if  they  had  not  been  completely  foiled,  no  limit  to  their  violence  could  well 
be  assigned. 

The  honorable  court  will  not  doubt  that,  if  a  defiant  and  premeditated 
attack  upon  and  personal  violence  to  the  captain  of  the  vessel  and  those 
supporting  him  had  been  met  in  any  other  manner  than  it  was,  scores  of 
the  men  whose  conduct  was  unexceptionable  would  have  been  emboldened 
into  contempt,  if  not  into  open  mutiny.  In  that  event,  who  can  say  what 
would  have  been  the  result? 

Pardon  me  a  word  or  two  upon  what  constitutes  the  offence  of  murder. 
It  is  a  malicious,  deliberate,  purposed,  and  premeditated  killing  of  a  person. 
Manslaughter  is  unlawful  killing ;  but  it  has  never  been  unlawful  for  an 
officer  of  the  law  to  use  such  force,  even  to  the  extent  of  killing,  as  seemed 
to  him  at  the  time  necessary,  to  enable  him  to  do  his  duty, — the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  afterwards  showing  that  his  opinion  was  reasonable, 
even  though  erroneous.  Of  the  extent  to  which  the  naval  or  military 
officer  may  go  in  the  just  performance  of  his  duties,  it  is  not  necessary  for 
me  to  speak,  as  that  is  the  province  of  this  court. 

This  honorable  court  will  bear  in  mind  that  of  all  the  witnesses  ex- 
amined, there  has  been  none  who  did  not  regard  my  action  as  of  impera- 
tive necessity,  and  they  have  also  stated  that  they  have  the  same  belief 
still.  Captain  Tinklepaugh  also  states  emphatically  that,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  agreement  that,  if  the  necessity  existed,  I  was  to  give  the  order,  he 
would  have  fired  on  the  men  before  my  arrival. 


STATEMENT  OF  COMMANDER  AMMEN.  393 

I  ask  an  acquittal  at  your  hands  upon  three  grounds : 

1st.  That  my  duty  required  me  to  act  as  I  did. 

2d.  The  necessity  of  the  case  required  it. 

3d.  Self-defence  permitted  it. 

I  beg  the  court  to  weigh  well  the  facts  presented  in  the  evidence.  I  not 
only  hope  a  full  acquittal,  but  trust  the  evidence  is  of  such  a  character  as 
to  show  that  the  confidence  the  Department  placed  in  me,  by  giving  me 
charge  of  so  many  men,  without  other  assistance  than  that  of  one  officer, 
was  not  misplaced. 

If  the  men  failed  to  respect  my  authority  in  the  beginning,  they  re- 
spected it  in  the  end. 

I  have  no  regrets  except  that  such  a  necessity  ever  came  to  me.  Had  I 
failed  in  my  duty,  had  I  done  less  than  I  did,  this  court,  in  common  with 
my  brother  officers  and  the  whole  country,  would  have'  had  to  lament  a 
fatal  imbecility,  and  the  narrative  of  the  Ocean  Queen  might  have  been 
added  to  the  book  of  horrors. 

As  for  the  dead,  their  desperate  and  determined  character  has  been  given 
in  the  testimony.  They  had  forfeited  their  lives  to  the  law  ;  and  they  died 
only  before  the  sentence  of  the  law  instead  of  after  it ;  and  the  necessity 
of  the  case  was  such  that  no  one  of  my  brother  officers  could  have  failed 
to  do  his  duty  on  that  occasion,  had  it  been  his  lot  instead  of  mine. 

I  have  not  entered  into  an  argument,  nor  do  I  consider  it  proper  on  this 
occasion  that  I  should  do  so.  I  have  endeavored  fairly  to  present  the  case, 
and  I  believe  the  evidence  is  ample  to  convince  the  honorable  court  that 
I  had  but  one  course  to  pursue ;  that  I  did  but  my  duty  ;  and,  painful  as 
that  duty  was,  the  manner  in  which  I  performed  it  I  trust  will  meet  your 
sincere  and  entire  approval. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Daniel  Ammen,  Commander. 

Brooklyn  Navy-Yard,  August  10,  1864. 

EXTRACT   FROM    CAPTAIN   TINKLEPAUGH'S   EVIDENCE. 

Question  by  the  Court. — Did  you,  or  did  you  not,  believe,  at  the  time  of 
the  firing,  and  before  it,  that  the  safety  of  the  ship,  and  possibly  of  the 
passengers,  would  be  endangered  unless  the  movements  of  the  mutineers 
were  forcibly  arrested? 

Answer. — I  did  so  believe.  I  became  fully  satisfied  in  my  own  mind  of 
the  fact. 

Question  by  the  Court. — Was  it,  or  was  it  not,  in  your  judgment,  then 
and  now,  necessary,  in  order  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  mutineers,  to 
resort  to  the  use  of  fire-arms? 

Answer. — It  was  necessary,  in  my  opinion.  It  became  necessary.  I  am 
still  of  the  same  opinion. 

Question  by  the  Court. — If  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  arrest  and  con- 
fine the  mutineers  at  the  gate,  instead  of  firing  upon  them,  what,  in  view 


394  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

of  the  state  of  feeling  shown  by  the  other  men,  do  you  think  would  have 
been  the  result? 

Answer. — I  think  the  result  would  have  been  that  they  would  have  taken 
the  ship  from  us. 

Question  by  the  Accused. — Did  you  observe,  at  any  time,  malicious  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  the  accused  to  the  men  under  his  charge? 

Answer. — None  whatever.  On  the  contrary,  he  addressed  them  and 
treated  them  at  all  times  in  a  mild  and  gentlemanly  manner.  He  told 
them  repeatedly,  in  my  hearing,  that  whatever  could  be  done  for  their 
comfort  should  be ;  that  he  was  sent  there  for  that  purpose,  to  see  to  their 
rights  and  comfort,  and  it  should  be  done. 

Question  by  the  Accused. — Was  the  conduct  of  Commander  Ammen  cool 
and  collected  at  all  times,  when  you  were  present,  especially  during  the 
attack  in  the  port  gangway,  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  May  15? 

Answer. — It  was  unusually  so, — unusually  cool  and  determined.  So 
much  so  that  I  changed  my  mind ;  because  he  was  so  mild  at  first  that  I 
didn't  expect  when  the  time  for  action  came  he  would  be  prompt.  I  found 
him,  however,  very  cool  and  determined,  prompt  to  act.  Prior  to  that  I 
thought  he  was  very  mild  and  easy. 

Question  by  the  Accused. — Would  you  have  felt  obliged  to  shoot  the  men 
who  made  an  attack  on  you  at  the  gateway  on  the  port  side  of  the  Ocean 
Queen,  in  order  to  insure  the  safety  of  your  command,  had  I  not  arrived 
the  moment  I  did,  or  very  soon  thereafter,  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday, 
May  15? 

Answer. — Yes,  sir.  I  should  have  fired  myself  before  he  arrived,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  understanding  that  I  was  to  act  under  his  orders.  I  saw 
the  necessity  of  doing  it  before  he  arrived  there. 

Question  by  the  Accused. — Do  you  remember  whether  I  expressed  regret 
that  it  was  necessary  to  shoot  two  or  three  men,  when  I  addressed  the 
draft  of  men  ? 

Answer. — Yes,  I  heard  Captain  Ammen  express  himself  so  when  he 
addressed  the  men.  He  expressed  regret  that  he  had  been  compelled  to 
use  force. 


Justice  Field,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  a  passenger,  and  at 
my  request  took  the  sworn  statements  of  all  the  officers  and 
others  on  board  who  were  cognizant  of  the  facts.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  steamer  at  Aspinwall,  I  asked  Captain  Sanford, 
of  the  Neptune,  who  had  convoyed  us  into  port,  to  place  sentries 
on  the  wharf  to  prevent  the  desertion  of  the  draft ;  this  he  did, 
but  he  refused  to  send  an  officer  and  marines  with  me  to  guard 
the  men  to  Panama.  After  the  cars  left  Aspinwall,  when  the 
train  was  running  slowly,  ten  or  a  dozen  of  the  men  jumped 


RETURN  TO  NEW  YORK.  395 

from  the  cars  and  took  to  the  woods ;  although  they  were  shot 
at,  so  far  as  I  know  none  of  them  were  hit.  Boatswain  Bell 
and  myself  could  not  prevent  the  escape  of  the  men  from  the 
five  cars  occupied  by  them. 

Before  leaving,  I  had  sent  a  telegram  to  Commander  Law,  of 
the  Levant,  to  have  marines  stationed  around  the  depot  on  our 
arrival  at  Panama.  This  arrangement  was  a  very  disagreeable 
surprise  to  many  of  my  draft,  who  would  have  preferred  to 
desert  there  rather  than  along  the  road.  A  tug  was  in  waiting, 
and  an  hour  later  the  men  were  on  board  of  the  Levant  and 
mustered  around  the  capstan,  when  I  told  Commander  Law  the 
character  of  many  of  them.  The  men  who  had  deserted  along 
the  line  of  road  were  all  apprehended  and  brought  on  board,  as 
I  was  afterwards  informed  by  Commander  Law. 

As  directed  by  my  orders,  on  the  delivery  of  the  draft  to  the 
commanding  officer  at  Panama  I  returned  in  the  Ocean  Queen 
to  New  York,  leaving  Aspinwall  three  days  after  our  arrival. 
I  made  a  full  report  to  the  Navy  Department,  covering  nine 
pages  of  official  paper,  detailing  every  occurrence  on  board  of 
the  Ocean  Queen  from  the  time  the  draft  was  received  until  it 
was  turned  over  to  Commander  Law  at  Panama,  and  enclosed 
with  my  report  the  sworn  statements  taken  by  Justice  Field 
the  day  after  the  occurrence. 

I  awaited  the  action  of  the  Navy  Department  in  Philadel- 
phia ;  more  than  a  week  passed,  and  not  even  an  official  acknowl- 
edgment of  my  report  was  received  by  me.  On  a  brief  visit  to 
Admiral  Dupont,  living  near  Wilmington,  he  inquired  what  I 
had  heard  from  the  Department,  and  was  informed  that  it  had 
not  deigned  even  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  my  report.  He 
asked  whether  it  would  not  be  preferable  for  me  to  ask  a  court- 
martial,  in  order  to  free  myself  not  only  from  odium,  but  also 
from  a  legal  prosecution  in  some  civil  court,  which  otherwise 
would  always  hang  over  me  as  a  possibility  and  might  be 
brought  about  at  any  time  by  some  sharp  lawyer  who  wanted  a 
case  or  to  black-mail.  I  replied  that  I  had  come  to  that  con- 
clusion, and  the  next  day  I  sent  a  second  letter  to  the  Depart- 
ment, asking  a  court-martial,  and  giving  my  reasons  for  the 
request.     The  admiral  asked  who  I  intended  to  get  to  defend 


396  THE  OLD  NAVF  AND    THE  NEW. 

me ;  I  said  I  would  not  have  a  lawyer,  for  the  reason  that  he 
would  regard  it  as  his  duty  to  take  all  the  points  of  the  law  in 
my  defence,  and  at  the  end  of  the  trial  I  would  appear  as  having 
been  acquitted  through  his  cleverness  rather  than  on  the  merits 
of  the  case.  At  this  the  admiral  seemed  much  disturbed,  and 
remarked,  "In  my  judgment,  you  should  have  one  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  in  the  country  to.  defend  you."  I  replied  that  I  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  the  Department  was  unfriendly,  though  with- 
out reason,  but  that  I  knew  all  the  facts  in  connection  with  the 
affair ;  that  any  other  conduct  on  my  part  would  have  been 
highly  culpable,  and  this  would  appear  from  the  sworn  state- 
ments and  be  fully  substantiated  by  all  the  testimony  before  the 
court  when  I  was  tried. 

No  reply  was  received  to  my  second  letter  to  the  Department ; 
a  few  days  later,  however,  I  received  a  visit  from  a  gentleman 
who,  after  asking  if  I  was  Commander  Ammen,  said  he  had  a 
very  disagreeable  duty  to  perform,  as  judge-advocate  of  a  court- 
martial,  in  presenting  charges  to  me.  I  replied  that  I  was  glad 
to  see  him,  and  would  give  the  charges  my  attention.  At  that 
time  the  Department  kept  two  courts-martial  running,  the  one 
supposed  to  acquit,  and  the  other  to  condemn  those  on  trial.  I 
was  brought  before  the  latter  court,  supposed  to  be  like  the 
Dutch  judge  who  asked,  "If  he  is  not  guilty,  why  bring  him 
to  trial  ?"  Early  in  August,  on  the  arrival  of  the  Ocean  Queen, 
I  was  brought  before  the  court  convened  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy- 
Yard  ;  on  being  asked  if  I  objected  to  any  member  of  the  court, 
I  said  no.  I  was  then  asked  if  I  wished  counsel,  I  replied  that 
I  only  wished  permission  to  consult  with  Commander  James 
Parker,  of  the  navy,  during  the  progress  of  my  trial.  This 
disturbed  the  repose  of  the  court  somewhat,  and  I  had  half  an 
idea  that  there  would  be  a  disposition  to  assign  me  counsel 
whether  I  wished  it  or  not.  The  president  of  the  court  was  a 
rear-admiral  of  good  sense  and  character,  with  whom  I  had 
served  as  midshipman  when  he  commanded  a  sloop-of-war  on 
the  coast  of  Labrador.  He  told  me,  weeks  before,  that  he 
was  ordered  to  hold  me  in  close  confinement,  to  which  I 
replied  that  he  knew  me  personally ;  I  would  not  venture  to 
express  any  opinion  in  relation  to  his  duties,  but  I  would  say 


NOTICE  OF  ACQUITTAL  397 

that  he  could  not  get  rid  of  me  by  any  possibility  before  I  was 
tried. 

All  those  belonging  to  the  Ocean  Queen  who  were  cognizant 
of  the  facts  appeared  as  witnesses.  The  testimony  was  that 
before  the  men  had  called  me  up  at  midnight  just  after  going  to 
sea,  a  meeting  had  been  held  by  them  and  a  canvass  made  as  to 
who  among  them  could  run  the  engines.  It  was  supposed, 
though  never  ascertained  to  be  a  fact,  that  one  of  the  draft 
who  had  opposed  the  piratical  project  had  been  thrown  over- 
board, perhaps  on  the  presumption  that  a  man  who  had  been 
mustered  on  board  the  preceding  evening  was  not  found  on 
board  afterwards ;  but  he  may  have  changed  his  clothing  and 
gone  on  board  of  the  tug  again  before  she  cast  off  from  the 
vessel. 

I  was  indebted  to  Commander  James  Parker,  now  a  lawyer 
of  note  in  New  York,  for  his  advice  and  assistance  during  the 
progress  of  the  trial ;  he  did  not  propose  to  take  all  the  points 
of  the  law  to  clear  me,  but  presented  all  the  facts  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  court.  The  malice  of  the  Department  arose 
from  my  personal  friendship  for  Admiral  Dupont,  and  could 
extend  no  further  than  in  releasing  me  from  arrest  in  terms  that 
implied  that  I  had  crawled  through  the  meshes  of  the  law.  It 
was  as  follows : 

Navy  Department,  Washington,  August  15,  1864. 
Sir, — The  Naval  General  Court-Martial  by  which  you  were  recently 
tried,  at  New  York,  acquitted  you  of  the  charges  preferred  against  you. 
After  pronouncing  this  judgment,  the  Court  proceed  to  state  that  "it 
appearing  from  the  evidence,  and  not  denied  by  the  accused,  that  Com- 
mander Daniel  Ammen,  at  the  time  and  place  mentioned  in  the  specifica- 
tions, was  concerned  in  the  killing  of  John  Kelley  and  Alfred  Bussell, 
seamen,  the  court  do  find  that  the  same  was  done  in  the  lawful  discharge 
of  the  duty  of  the  said  Commander  Daniel  Ammen,  as  an  officer  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  and  to  suppress  an  attempted  mutiny,  and  in  the 
opinion  of  the  court  the  same  was  justifiable  homicide." 
I  am  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
(Signed)  Gideon  Welles,  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

Commander  Daniel  Ammen,  U.S.N. 

A  few  days  after  my  release  from  arrest  I  received  a  letter 
from  General  Grant,  dated  August  18,  relating  to  occurrences 


398  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

of  great  interest  to  the  public  at  that  time.  It  was  as  follows  : 
"  Several  times  we  have  had  decisive  victories  within  our  grasp, 
but  let  them,  through  accident  or  fault,  slip  through  our  hands. 
Our  movement  from  Cold  Harbor  to  the  south  side  of  the  James 
was  made  with  such  celerity  that  before  the  enemy  got  a  single 
regiment  across  the  river  our  forces  had  carried  the  fortifications 
east  of  Petersburg.  There  was  nothing,  not  even  a  military 
force,  to  prevent  our  walking  in  and  taking  possession.  The 
officer  charged  with  this  work,  for  some  unaccountable  reason, 
stopped  at  the  works  he  had  captured,  and  gave  the  enemy  time 
to  get  in  a  garrison  and  intrench  it.  On  the  30th  of  July,  again, 
by  a  feint  north  of  the  James,  we  drew  most  of  the  enemy  on 
that  side  of  the  river,  and  whilst  he  was  there  (with  my  troops 
quietly  withdrawing  during  the  night)  a  mine,  judiciously  pre- 
pared, was  exploded,  burying  a  battery  and  some  three  hundred 
of  the  enemy,  and  making  a  breach  in  his  works  into  which  our 
men  marched  without  opposition.  The  enemy  was  completely 
surprised,  and  commenced  running  in  all  directions.  There  was 
nothing  to  prevent  our  men  from  marching  directly  to  the  high 
ground  in  front  of  them,  to  which  they  had  been  directed  to  go. 
Once  there,  all  the  enemy's  fortifications  would  have  been  taken 
in  reverse,  and  no  stand  would  have  been  made.  It  is  clear  that 
without  a  loss  of  five  hundred  men  we  could  have  had  Peters- 
burg, with  all  its  artillery  and  many  of  its  garrison.  But  our 
troops  stopped  in  the  crater  made  by  the  explosion.  The  enemy 
was  given  time  to  rally  and  reoccupy  his  line.  Then  we  found, 
true  enough,  that  we  had  the  wolf  by  the  ears.  He  was  hard 
to  hold,  and  more  dangerous  to  let  go.  This  was  so  outrageous 
that  I  have  obtained  a  court  of  inquiry  to  sift  the  matter.  We 
will  peg  away,  however,  and  end  this  matter  if  our  people  at 
home  will  be  but  true  to  themselves.  If  they  would  but  reflect, 
everything  looks  favorable.  .  .  . 

"  The  hope  of  a  counter-revolution  over  the  draft,  or  the  Presi- 
dential election,  keeps  them  together.  Then,  too,  they  hope  for 
the  election  of  a  '  peace  candidate/  who  would  let  them  go.  '  A 
peace  at  any  price'  is  fearful  to  contemplate.  It  would  be  but 
the  beginning  of  war.  The  demands  of  the  South  would  know 
no  limits.     They  would  demand  indemnity  for  expenses  incurred 


IN  COMMAND   OF  THE  MOHICAN.  399 

in  carrying  on  the  war.  They  would  demand  the  return  of 
all  their  slaves  set  free  in  consequence  of  war.  They  would 
demand  a  treaty  looking  to  the  rendition  of  all  fugitive  slaves 
escaping  into  the  Northern  States,  and  they  would -keep  on 
demanding  until  it  would  be  better  to  be  dead  than  to  submit 
longer." 

I  met  the  general  three  months  later,  when  he  made  some 
humorous  remark  about  my  having  been  tried  for  murder,  to 
which  I  replied  that  the  men  I  had  charge  of  had  been  drafted 
from  the  army,  and  I  had  the  idea  that  they  were  accounted 
sailors  and  drafted  to  the  navy  because  they  could  not  make 
soldiers  out  of  them. 

A  month  later  I  was  ordered  to  the  command  of  the  Mohican, 
a  steam  vessel  of  seven  guns,  fitting  out  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy- 
Yard  to  join  Admiral  Porter's  force  in  the  intended  attack  on 
Fort  Fisher,  known  at  the  time  to  be  a  very  strong  sand  fort. 
The  enemy  knew  as  well  as  wre  did  that  we  would  attack  it  as 
soon  as  we  had  the  requisite  force.  I  can  bear  testimony  to  the 
laborious  exertions  of  the  men  building  it  up  to  the  time  of 
attack  :  wheeling  barrows  of  sand,  they  followed  one  another  in 
rowrs,  going  and  returning,  from  "  rosy  morn  to  dewy  eve."  As 
I  watched  them  from  a  distance,  I  thought  how  easy  it  would 
be  for  us  to  level  the  traverses  and  embankments  that  had  cost 
them  so  many  months  of  labor  and  which  they  were  still  add- 
ing to. 

Soon  after  I  had  received  orders  to  command  the  Mohican  a 
friend  asked  if  I  had  yet  appointed  my  clerk ;  I  said  no,  that  I 
did  not  intend  to  be  bothered  with  one;  he  said  he  regretted 
my  intention,  because  a  son  of  one  of  his  intimate  friends  was 
desirous  to  go  with  me,  and,  as  he  had  made  several  long  voy- 
ages before  the  mast,  was  accustomed  to  sea  life,  and  was  also 
conversant  with  the  duties  of  a  clerk.  I  expressed  a  willingness 
to  conform  to  his  wishes,  and,  after  talking  over  the  matter,  it 
was  agreed  that  the  young  gentleman  should  mess  and  live  in 
the  cabin  with  me,  which  was  allowed  by  Regulations.  I  had 
seen  previously  on  board  of  some  of  the  gun-boats  some  fancy 
clerks  messing  with  the  commanding  officers,  when  there  was  a 
suspicion  that  they  were  on  board  quite  as  much  to  divide  the 


400  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

mess-bill  as  for  any  other  purpose :  so  I  insisted  that  the  young 
gentleman  should  pay  in  the  cabin  only  the  same  mess-bill  that 
he  would  pay  were  he  messing  in  the  steerage. 

My  cabin  steward  was  a  very  slow,  stupid  Swiss,  who  had  been 
the  steerage  steward  on  board  of  the  Seneca  when  I  commanded 
that  vessel.  When  he  enlisted  for  the  Mohican  he  received  a 
large  bounty  to  be  credited  to  some  State,  and  this  bounty,  with 
his  pay  and  the  value  of  his  commuted  ration,  made  his  emolu- 
ments considerably  more  than  my  own  during  the  seven  or  eight 
months  that  I  commanded  the  Mohican.  What  added  to  the 
drollery  of  the  situation  was  the  fact  that  the  father  of  the 
young  gentleman  who  was  my  clerk  and  messmate  was  one 
of  three  partners  who  at  that  time  paid  an  income-tax  on  half 
a  million  yearly,  in  the  business  of  a  large  sugar  importing 
house.  He  proved  to  be  very  intelligent  and  useful,  and  an 
agreeable  messmate.  At  that  time  I  paid  fifty  cents  a  pound 
for  ham,  and  for  other  stores  in  proportion,  and  certainly  did 
not  serve  my  country  during  that  period  with  great  pecuniary 
benefit  to  myself,  as  my  pay  barely  met  my  personal  expenses ; 
but  taking  it  altogether,  my  command  of  the  Mohican  was  a 
very  satisfactory  professional  experience. 

When  the  Mohican  was  undergoing  repairs  at  New  York  the 
executive  officer  came  to  call  my  personal  attention  to  the  placing 
of  bow  timber  frames  on  rotten  ends  beneath  them.  I  told  him 
that  the  government  was  desirous  of  having  as  large  a  force  as 
possible  to  attack  Fort  Fisher,  and  I  was  not  willing  to  look  at  the 
character  of  the  repairs,  lest  I  might  consider  it  a  duty  to  make 
a  report  that  would  prevent  the  Mohican  from  taking  part  in 
the  bombardment.  This  may  seem  a  specious  way  of  quieting 
the  conscience,  but  it  was  the  best  that  occurred  to  me,  and  I 
have  never  been  troubled  over  this  dereliction. 

The  Mohican  was  put  in  commission  on  the  7th  of  October, 
and  on  the  28th  left  for  Hampton  Roads,  arriving  two  days 
later.  We  found  Admiral  Porter  and  a  considerable  number  of 
vessels  under  his  command  in  the  roads.  Early  in  November 
we  learned  of  the  destruction  of  the  iron-clad  Albemarle,  by 
Cushing,  on  the  30th  of  October,  at  Plymouth,  North  Carolina. 
When  the  news  reached  us  I  was  on  board  of  a  transport  with 


AT  CITY  POINT.  401 

General  Grant,  leaving  for  City  Point,  his  head-quarters.  I 
spent  two  days  with  the  general,  and  was  sent  out  under  the 
guidance  of  General  Babcock  on  the  staff  to  take  a  look  at  the 
lines  in  front  of  Petersburg. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

At  City  Point — Meet  General  Grant— The  General's  Horse  Cincinnati — 
Return  to  Hampton  Roads — Beaufort — Bombardment  of  Port  Fisher — 
General  Butler— Re-embark  for  Fortress  Monroe— General  Terry  reaches 
Beaufort  ready  to  co-operate  with  the  Navy — Generals  Terry  and  Comstock 
visit  the  Commander — Dressing  the  Ship  with  Green — The  Mohican 
anchors  at  Port  Royal — Message  from  Admiral  Porter  to  General  Sherman 
— News  of  the  Capture  of  Wilmington— Return  to  Savannah — Call  on 
Mrs.  Anderson  before  leaving  Savannah — Hardee  escapes  with  his  Army — 
Letter  from  Mr.  Anderson — The  Ogeechee — Hampton  Roads — Washing- 
ton Navy-Yard — Boston — Surrender  of  Lee's  Army. 

There  was  a  railroad  from  City  Point  j  we  were  sent  out  on 
a  box-car,  and  our  horses  were  in  another  car.  It  was  curious 
to  note  the  intelligence  of  the  horses  :  on  seeing  a  plank  laid  for 
them  to  walk  into  the  car,  they  did  so  without  further  invitation 
or  the  least  apprehension,  and  as  we  passed  along  they  looked 
at  the  surrounding  country  with  an  apparent  interest.  The 
railroad  had  been  laid  to  carry  supplies  to  the  troops  on  that 
part  of  the  lines,  and  was  up  hill  and  down,  on  the  grades  that 
nature  had  established,  very  much  as  with  common  roads.  The 
loads  hauled  were,  of  course,  quite  light,  or  the  road  would  not 
have  been  practicable. 

On  our  arrival  at  the  terminus,  the  plank  was  placed,  and 
our  horses  walked  down  and  stood  quietly  awaiting  our  mount- 
ing. The  general  had  done  me  the  honor  to  send  his  horse 
Cincinnati,  already  mentioned  in  the  account  of  my  visit  to 
Culpeper.  It  was  the  afternoon  of  a  cold,  raw  day  when  we 
rode  along  that  part  of  our  lines  usually  visited  in  making  an 
inspection,  at  some  places  within  reach  of  small-arms.  After- 
wards we  went  to  the  head-quarters  of  General  Hancock,  whom 
I  had  previously  met  in  Philadelphia  when  he  was  on  leave 

26 


402  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

from  wounds.  After  a  smart  ride  over  the  country  we  went  to 
the  cars  and  were  taken  to  City  Point.  When  I  met  General 
Grant  he  asked  how  I  liked  the  horse;  I  replied  that  I  had 
ridden  horses  in  parts  of  each  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe ; 
in  Patagonia,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  Chili,  in  California, 
in  Central  America,  and  in  many  of  our  States,  from  Maine  to 
Mississippi,  and  had  never  backed  a  horse  at  all  comparable  to 
Cincinnati  in  stride,  action,  and  docility  ;  he  was  perfect.  The 
general  remarked  again  that  he  had  never  ridden  his  equal. 

A  day  later  I  returned  to  Hampton  Roads,  and  got  permission 
from  the  admiral  to  shorten  the  wheel-ropes  of  the  Mohican,  in 
order  to  increase  the  battery  by  two  more  nine-inch  shell-guns 
in  broadside.  We  did  all  the  work  required  with  our  own  men. 
On  the  10th  the  Mohican  was  sent  to  convoy  a  very  valuable 
prize  to  New  York.  On  seeing  her  within  Sandy  Hook  we 
bore  away  for  Hampton  Roads,  as  instructed.  At  that  time  my 
face  was  very  much  swollen  from  neuralgia  or  rheumatism,  and 
my  limbs  were  very  stiff,  also  :  I  had  a  fear  that  I  might  become 
incapacitated  for  duty  before  our  bombardment  came  off.  On 
the  24th  the  Mohican  left  Hampton  Roads  for  the  blockade  off 
Wilmington  until  the  arrival  of  the  admiral,  which  did  not 
occur  as  soon  as  he  had  hoped. 

On  getting  into  heavy  weather  at  sea  I  found  that  the  spars 
aloft  were  working  the  rotten  frame  of  the  ship,  and  took  down 
the  yards  and  topmasts  on  the  main-  and  mizzen-masts ;  after- 
wards, by  permission  of  the  admiral,  I  sent  them  on  shore  for 
stowage  in  Beaufort,  North  Carolina,  until  the  vessel  was  sent 
North,  when  I  went  into  that  port  to  get  them.  While  block- 
ading off  Fort  Fisher  I  anchored  at  different  points,  and  by 
means  of  plotting  the  vessel  from  angles  taken  on  tangents  of 
coast-lines,  or  on  points  known,  got  the  distance  from  the  Mound 
battery  at  different  times,  and  the  vertical  angle  from  base  to 
summit,  by  which  I  calculated  its  height,  my  result  being  within 
two  feet  of  what  the  height  was  stated  to  be  after  we  had 
captured  the  fort. 

Notwithstanding  the  activity  of  the  admiral,  it  was  the  18th  of 
December  when  we  left  the  anchorage  off  Beaufort,  with  by  far 
the  largest  naval  force  that  had  ever  been  assembled  under  our 


EXPLOSION  OF  THE  POWDER-BOAT.  403 

flag.  We  formed  awkwardly,  and  then  proceeded  to  the  in- 
tended anchorage,  twenty-five  miles  east  of  Fort  Fisher,  in  the 
order  of  sailing  directed.  When  we  arrived,  we  found  the  army 
transports  at  anchor,  and  General  Butler  present  in  command  of  an 
army  of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men.  The  next  day  the  weather 
was  not  supposed  to  be  favorable  for  landing  the  troops,  and  we 
remained  at  anchor.  On  the  next  day  we  had  a  heavy  southwest 
gale.  The  army  transports  were  said  to  be  short  of  water,  and 
got  under  way  for  Beaufort.  We  were  anchored  in  seventeen 
fathoms  of  water,  with  hard  sandy  bottom.  Nearly  all  the  ves- 
sels dragged,  some  of  them  over  a  distance  of  miles ;  but  when 
the  gale  moderated  they  steamed  into  position  again  and  anchored. 
The  wind  had  changed  to  the  westward,  making  the  sea  smooth 
in-shore,  and  favorable  for  landing  the  troops  north  of  the  fort, 
as  had  been  intended,  but  the  transports  were  not  at  hand.  At 
half-past  ten  on  the  night  of  the  23d,  a  powder-boat  that  had 
been  prepared  for  the  purpose  was  sent  in  and  anchored  off  Fort 
Fisher  at  a  supposed  distance  of  three  hundred  yards  from  the 
beach.  Fuses  that  were  carefully  laid  were  set  on  fire,  and 
those  employed  in  this  work  left  in  a  boat  for  a  steamer  in 
waiting,  and  came  off  to  the  fleet.  It  was  supposed  by  the 
projectors  that  the  effect  of  this  explosion  would  wreck  the  fort, 
whereas  it  was  so  slight  that  persons  in  the  fort  who  witnessed 
it  supposed  that  a  blockader  had  blown  up  off  the  coast.  I  was 
awake  when  the  explosion  occurred,  and  saw  through  the  bull's- 
eye  in  the  side  of  the  vessel  the  flash,  resembling  that  of  distant 
lightning.  A  dull  sound  reached  us  after  a  lapse  of  time,  and 
two  hours  later  we  were  enveloped  for  more  than  an  hour  in  a 
dense  powder-smoke,  borne  by  a  gentle  westerly  breeze. 

As  no  information  had  been  received  from  General  Butler, 
and  as  the  weather  was  favorable  for  landing  troops  and  for  a 
bombardment,  the  admiral  had  determined  to  explode  the  pow- 
der-boat and  go  in  to  attack  the  fort,  as  favorable  weather  could 
not  be  counted  upon  at  that  season.  At  daylight  the  different 
divisions  of  the  fleet  were  under  way,  and  steamed  in  towards 
Fort  Fisher,  the  Ironsides  leading,  followed  by  the  double- 
turreted  monitor  Monadnock  and  the  single-turreted  monitors 
Canonicus  and  Mahopac.     They  anchored  in  the  positions  as- 


404         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

signed  them  in  the  plan  of  battle,  and  by  noon  opened  fire  on 
Fort  Fisher,  delivering  their  fire  as  directed.  The  Minnesota 
led  the  second  line,  followed  by  the  Mohican,  and  the  vessels 
anchored  in  reverse  order,  as  did  those  following,  the  frigate 
Colorado  being  the  next  in  line.  The  two  other  lines  got  into 
position  with  less  success,  but  the  fort  was  soon  enveloped  in 
bursting  shells,  the  fire  of  the  entire  attacking  fleet  being  directed 
at  the  guns  in  the  particular  parts  of  the  fort  assigned  them.  At 
sunset  the  wooden  vessels  withdrew  from  action,  and  anchored 
as  directed  by  signal.  About  the  same  time  General  Butler's 
flag-ship  and  several  other  army  transports  made  their  appear- 
ance. On  Christmas  morning  all  the  army  transports  had 
arrived,  and  General  Weitzel,  chief  of  General  Butler's  staff, 
went  on  board  of  Admiral  Porter's  flag-ship  for  the  purpose  of 
arranging  "  the  programme  for  the  day."  Seventeen  gun-boats 
were  detached  to  aid  in  the  debarkation  of  the  troops,  without 
any  other  means,  however,  than  the  boats  usually  carried  by 
vessels  of  that  class. 

About  eight  o'clock  that  morning  the  admiral  had  signalled 
for  officers  commanding  vessels  to  come  on  board  of  the  flag- 
ship. As  I  had  already  breakfasted,  and  as  the  Mohican  lay 
near,  I  was  the  first  to  obey  the  summons.  The  admiral  asked 
what  I  thought  of  the  bombardment  of  yesterday ;  I  replied 
that  it  was  fair ;  he  said  he  considered  it  first-rate.  I  said  that 
I  saw  a  good  deal  of  white  water  from  the  shells  falling  short, 
and  that  I  had  taken  care  to  secure  a  proper  elevation  of  the 
guns  of  the  Mohican  by  sending  an  officer  to  the  main-top  to 
watch  the  striking  of  our  shell  and  get  a  proper  range,  and  had 
found  the  distance  several  hundred  yards  greater  than  I  should 
have  preferred. 

The  Ironsides  and  monitors  had  remained  in  position  during 
the  night,  and  fired  slowly,  from  time  to  time.  Soon  after  our 
return  from  the  flag-ship,  Commander  Rhind  was  sent  in  a  boat 
to  sound  ahead  of  the  Minnesota,  and  when  a  depth  of  water 
was  reached  that  would  barely  keep  her  off  the  bottom,  she 
anchored,  and  the  line  was  formed  on  her.  The  flag-captain 
came  within  hail  in  a  tug  and  directed  the  Mohican  to  go  in  and 
make  fast  astern  of  the  Ironsides,  an  order  which  was  very 


RE-EMBARK  FOR  FORTRESS  MONROE.  405 

gratifying  to  us.  And  there  we  were  firing  slowly  the  whole 
day,  aiming  actually  at  the  guns  of  the  enemy.  When  we  had 
thrown  the  last  shell  on  board,  from  a  distance  of  less  than  one 
thousand  yards  from  the  fort,  we  cast  off  from  the  stern  of  the 
Ironsides  and  went  to  a  supply- vessel,  where  we  filled  and  fused 
our  shells,  and  took  as  many  as  could  be  stowed  below,  and  were 
then  ready  for  further  operations. 

The  morning,  which  had  been  lovely,  had  changed  into  a 
sombre  day ;  late  in  the  afternoon  the  effect  of  our  fire  seemed 
to  paralyze  that  of  the  fort.  It  was  a  magnificent  sight  for  us, 
but  for  those  in  the  fort  it  must  have  been  something  akin  to 
what  was  enjoyed  by  the  enemy  in  our  attack  on  Fort  Sumter 
previously  mentioned. 

Some  three  thousand  men  of  our  army  force  had  been  landed 
by  three  or  four  o'clock,  and  two  bodies  of  the  enemy,  the  one 
of  seventy  men  occupying  the  Flag-Pond  battery,  and  the  other 
of  two  hundred  and  eighteen  men  and  seven  officers,  manning 
what  was  known  as  the  Half-Moon  battery,  both  works  being 
near  where  our  forces  had  been  landed,  came  in  and  surrendered. 
They  could  just  as  readily  have  gone  up  the  sand-spit  and  on  to 
Wilmington.  Later  in  the  day  a  reconnoissance  had  been  made 
behind  the  curtain  of  the  fort,  and  a  Confederate  flag  that  had 
been  shot  away  from  the  pole  by  the  fire  of  the  fleet  had  been 
picked  up  and  carried  away  by  our  troops,  when  General  Butler 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  works  were  practically  uninjured 
by  our  fire,  and  that  he  would  re-embark  his  troops  and  proceed 
to  Fortress  Monroe,  which  he  did. 

The  sea  had  become  rough  in  the  mean  time,  and  when  night 
came  on  the  embarkation  was  suspended.  Seven  hundred  of 
Butler's  army  were  left  on  the  beach  under  our  protection,  and 
their  embarkation  was  not  effected  until  noon  of  the  27th,  owin^ 
to  the  roughness  of  the  water.  During  the  night  of  the  26th, 
had  the  enemy  in  the  fort  been  "  in  feather,"  he  would  have 
come  up  the  beach  and  captured  these  men,  inasmuch  as  the 
gun-boats  could  not  have  rendered  them  any  assistance. 

On  Christmas  night  the  Mohican  was  at  anchor  three  miles 
from  the  fort,  and  rolling  so  heavily  that  in  writing  I  found  it 
necessary  to  hold  on  to  the  table  with  one   hand  and  to  the 


406         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

inkstand  with  the  other.  I  was  describing  to  General  Grant, 
the  proceedings  up  to  date,  from  my  point  of  view.  I  said 
it  was  apparent  to  me  that  we  could  control  the  fire  of  the 
enemy.  Whether  the  work  could  be  carried  by  assault  was 
a  different  affair.  If  it  could  not  be  so  carried,  a  force  could 
intrench  north  of  the  fort  on  the  sand-spit,  and  on  their  flanks 
gun-boats  could  sweep  the  beaches  ;  our  torpedo-launches  could 
either  enter  the  river  through  the  channels  or  be  hauled  over 
the  spit,  and,  with  calcium  lights  on  the  beach,  the  force  in- 
trenched on  the  spit,  aided  by  the  torpedo  and  other  launches 
with  guns,  could  prevent  any  blockade-runner  from  reaching 
"Wilmington.  So  far  as  Fort  Fisher  was  concerned,  it  would 
then  serve  the  enemy  no  better  purpose  than  if  it  were  miles 
away  at  sea.  It  would  be  practically  cut  off  from  receiving 
any  large  amount  of  supplies,  and  would  necessarily  be  aban- 
doned. After  the  termination  of  the  war  General  Grant  told 
me  that  this  letter  had  much  to  do  in  determining  him  to  re- 
invest Fort  Fisher,  which  was  done  as  soon  as  the  force  could 
be  brought  down  again. 

After  Butler  left,  all  the  fighting  vessels  of  the  fleet  sailed  for 
Beaufort,  to  take  in  a  fresh  supply  of  ammunition  and  make 
ready  for  another  attack.  On  the  31st  of  December  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy  wrote  Admiral  Porter  that  "  Lieutenant- 
General  Grant  will  send  immediately  a  competent  force,  properly 
commanded,  to  co-operate .  in  the  capture  of  the  defences  on 
Federal  Point."  On  the  8th  of  January,  General  Terry,  in 
command  of  this  force,  reached  Beaufort,  and  was  ready  to 
operate  at  once.  Coaling  and  taking  in  ammunition  off  Beaufort 
harbor  in  the  face  of  a  great  deal  of  rough  weather  was  a  slow 
operation  with  the  many  large  vessels  that  could  not  cross  the 
bar.  We  had  a  very  heavy  gale  for  forty-eight  hours,  part  of 
the  time  blowing  directly  on  a  lee  shore,  where  we  could  see 
very  heavy  breakers  not  a  mile  away.  In  this  gale  the  berth- 
deck  of  the  Mohican,  from  her  rotten  frame,  would  sway  to  and 
fro  one  inch  and  a  half  over  a  given  point  of  the  enginery.  We 
kept  constantly  a  heavy  head  of  steam  on,  our  try-sails  reefed  and 
the  sheets  led  aft,  ready  to  try  to  claw  off  the  shore,  for  it  would 
have  been  impossible  for  us  to  steam  head  to  sea  and  wind. 


BOMBARDMENT  OF  FORT  FISHER.  407 

While  in  the  harbor,  General  Terry  was  good  enough  to  pay 
me  a  visit.  The  wind  was  very  fresh  at  the  time,  and  his  boat 
was  coming  up  astern.  I  went  to  the  gangway  to  meet  him, 
and,  not  seeing  him  there,  was  informed  that  he  was  coming  up 
the  Jacob's  ladder  at  the  stern  of  the  vessel,  where  I  went  to 
receive  him  and  his  aide,  General  Comstock,  both  of  them  old 
and  valued  friends.  Terry  had  the  idea  that  it  was  too  rough 
to  come  alongside,  and  chose  to  climb  up  a  rope-ladder  astern 
rather  than  have  the  annoyance  of  a  heavy  sea  alongside.  I 
expressed  my  great  gratification  at  meeting  them  again,  especially 
considering  the  purpose  we  had  in  view.  After  a  pleasant  con- 
versation of  an  hour,  they  left,  and  I  did  not  have  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  either  of  them  again  for  years,  as  the  Mohican  was 
sent  the  morning  after  the  taking  of  Fort  Fisher  to  Port  Royal, 
to  carry  a  message  to  General  W.  T.  Sherman,  who  had  estab- 
lished himself  in  Savannah,  three  weeks  before,  after  his  march 
to  the  sea. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  January,  1865,  one  hundred 
vessels  (in  round  numbers)  were  at  anchor  twelve  miles  east  of 
Fort  Fisher.  About  three-fourths  were  vessel s-of- war  of  all 
grades;  the  remainder  were  army  transports,  carrying  twelve 
thousand  men,  under  the  command  of  General  Terry.  About 
sunrise  they  all  got  under  way, — the  iron-clads  to  attack  the 
fort,  and  the  wooden  vessels-of-war  and  the  transports  to  land 
the  troops,  with  as  much  despatch  as  possible,  some  five  miles 
north  of  the  fort,  on  an  open  sand-beach. 

The  Ironsides  led  four  vessels  of  the  monitor  class, — the 
Monadnock,  with  two  turrets  and  four  guns,  and  the  Canonicus, 
Mahopac,  and  Saugus,  with  two  guns  each,  making  ten  fifteen- 
inch  spherical-shell  guns.  The  Ironsides  carried  in  broadside 
seven  eleven-inch  guns  and  an  eight-inch  rifle  in  broadside,  a 
formidable  battery  against  a  sand  fort,  making,  with  the  moni- 
tors, eighteen  available  guns.  As  soon  as  they  were  within 
eighteen  hundred  yards,  the  fort  opened  fire  on  them,  which  was 
quite  disregarded  until  they  anchored  as  near  the  beach  as  their 
draught  would  permit.  The  Ironsides  was  then  about  one 
thousand  and  the  nearest  monitor  seven  hundred  yards  from  the 
fort.     Then  a  shell  or  so  was  throwrn  from  each  vessel  with  a 


408  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE   NEW. 

carefully -studied  elevation :  as  soon  as  they  obtained  the  range 
they  opened  fire,  which  was  actually  maintained  by  some  of 
them,  without  cessation,  for  three  days  and  two  nights. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  wooden  vessels-of-war  and  the  army 
transports  had  anchored  near  the  beach,  and  the  process  of 
debarkation  went  on  rapidly.  A  few  shells  had  been  previously 
thrown  into  the  brushwood,  to  arouse  any  lurking  enemy.  At 
once  a  large  herd  of  cattle,  frightened  at  the  bursting  shells  in 
the  wood,  rushed  wildly  to  the  beach.  They  had  been  provided 
for  the  garrison  of  the  fort,  but  surrendered  unconditionally, 
and  were  doubtless  found  useful  auxiliaries. 

At  two  p.m.  half  of  the  army  force  had  landed.  The  second 
line  of  vessels,  led  by  Alden  in  the  Brooklyn,  and  followed  by 
twelve  gun-boats,  left  soon  after,  and  anchored  in  position  out- 
side of  the  iron-clads  and  a  little  to  the  northward,  so  as  to 
destroy  the  guns  on  the  land  face, — the  intended  line  of  approach 
of  the  land  force  in  making  an  assault.  The  arrival  of  our 
line  was  the  cause  of  increased  activity  in  the  batteries  of  the 
enemy :  they  had  sobered  down  a  good  deal  under  the  discipline 
of  the  iron-clads  since  the  morning.  The  heavy  vessels-of-war 
left  the  landing  of  the  troops  and  got  into  position  only  a  little 
before  sunset,  having  been  delayed  an  hour  by  the  fouling  of 
the  screw  of  the  Minnesota,  the  leading  vessel,  commanded  by 
Lanman.  The  third  division  and  the  reserve  line,  composed  of 
the  weaker  vessels,  remained  to  complete  the  landing  of  the 
troops  and  all  the  stores,  which  was  effected  by  noon  of  the 
next  day. 

I  recall  no  sight  during  the  war  more  superbly  grand  than 
the  bombardment  of  that  evening.  As  the  sun  went  down  and 
the  shadows  fell  upon  the  waters,  the  waning  light  made  the 
bursting  shells  flash  out  in  the  obscurity,  as  did  the  guns  of  the 
enemy, — so  far  as  they  were  served  against  such  odds.  Far 
above,  on  the  fleecy  clouds,  rested  the  rosy  hues  from  the 
departed  sun ;  and  underneath,  in  heavy  masses,  not  high  above 
the  fort,  lay  the  smoke-clouds  of  battle.  It  was  superlatively 
grand.  But  soon  the  shadows  darkened  into  obscurity,  and  the 
wooden  ships  were  withdrawn  from  action.  All  that  livelong 
night  did  the  iron-clads  send  their  shells,  slowly  and  effectively, 


BOMBARDMENT  OF  FORT  FISHER.  499 

and,  as  found  necessary,  they  were  supplied  with  ammunition 
from  tugs,  during  that  and  the  following  night. 

In  the  forenoon  of  the  next  day  the  wooden  vessels  of  all 
classes  came  in  on  the  lines  assigned  them,  the  frigates  about  a 
mile  from  the  fort,  and  the  double-enders  forming  another  line, 
stretching  away  towards  the  entrance  of  the  river,  where  the 
Mound  and  Buchanan  batteries  were  located.  The  fleet,  as 
before,  directed  their  fire  at  the  particular  guns  assigned  them. 
The  commanders  of  the  vessels  were  satisfied  and  gratified  at 
the  effect  of  the  shells  on  parapets,  traverses,  and  the  guns  of 
the  enemy.  Fifteen-inch  shells  with  bursting  charges  of  thirteen 
pounds,  eleven-inch  shells  with  bursting  charges  of  six  pounds, 
did  their  work  superbly,  and  even  nine-inch  shells  with  bursting 
charges  of  only  three  pounds  were  not  to  be  despised,  and, 
besides,  there  were  a  great  many  of  them.  Where  the  shells 
fell  a  crater  would  appear,  and  the  ability  of  the  enemy  to  fight 
the  guns  was  in  a  large  degree  destroyed  by  the  masses  of  sand 
continually  thrown  around  them.  Asa  result,  some  of  his  guns 
were  feebly  served,  and  the  greater  number  were  silent.  When 
the  fort  no  longer  replied,  the  guns  of  the  fleet  would  be  made 
to  fire  slowly ;  one  gim  at  a  time  from  every  vessel  would  then 
be  directed,  as  at  target-practice,  against  the  particular  object. 
The  enemy  at  times  would  be  induced  by  this  slow  firing  to 
open  fire  again,  but  only  to  receive  such  a  storm  of  shells  in 
return  as  to  squelch  him.  One  of  my  Confederate  friends  who 
was  in  the  fort  told  me  recently  that  the  effect  of  the  fire  was  so 
damaging  and  overwhelming  that  they  literally  could  do  nothing ; 
great  logs  of  wood,  fifty  feet  in  length,  on  the  parapet,  would 
be  thrown  from  their  beds  and  tossed  in  the  air  by  a  shell  that 
had  buried  itself  in  the  parapet.  When  nightfall  of  the  second 
day  came,  and  the  wooden  vessels  were  again  withdrawn,  cer- 
tainly the  fort  had  a  sorry  appearance,  and  many  of  the  guns 
had  been  rendered  useless. 

In  an  interview  that  night,  Admiral  Porter  and  General 
Terry  agreed  upon  an  assault  at  noon  on  the  next  day.  A 
naval  contingent  of  sixteen  hundred  blue-jackets  and  four  hun- 
dred marines  was  to  assault  the  sea  face ;  the  movement  was  to 
be  made  from  the  northward  along  the  beach  to  the  northeast 


410  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

bastion.  The  third  day,  until  the  time  of  the  assault,  which 
was  about  three  o'clock,  the  fleet  maintained  a  slow  but  constant 
fire  on  the  fort,  without  being  favored  with  a  reply.  During 
the  night  the  army  had  made  an  extended  line  of  pits  close  up 
under  the  stockade  of  the  fort  on  the  land  side,  and  occupied 
them.  When  the  assault  came  the  movement  was  begun  from 
them.  The  troops  were  managed  in  the  most  courageous  and 
dexterous  manner,  and  carried  the  seven  most  westerly  traverses 
with  little  loss ;  then  followed  the  most  stubborn  fighting  from 
traverse  to  traverse,  the  huge  shells  of  the  iron-clads  clearing 
the  spaces  between  the  traverses  as  the  troops  advanced,  and 
thus  the  battle  raged  when  daylight  no  longer  served  for  firing 
shells ;  our  troops  had  then  carried  the  bastion  and  a  traverse, 
or  more,  on  the  sea  face.  It  was  not  until  ten  o'clock  that  the 
enemy  laid  down  his  arms. 

The  blue-jackets  and  marines  under  Breese  moved  as  soon  as 
the  army  began  the  assault ;  a  certain  number,  as  a  skirmish- 
line,  had  dug  trenches  and  pits  at  some  distance  from  the  north- 
east bastion,  and  occupied  them  in  the  forenoon.  The  body  of  the 
naval  force  landed  later  and  advanced  over  a  considerable  stretch 
of  open  beach,  and,  of  necessity,  in  masses ;  the  loss  was  heavy, 
and  although  a  part  of  the  force  actually  reached  the  stockade  at 
the  bastion,  its  greatest  use,  unhappily,  was  to  divert  a  very  con- 
siderable number  of  the  enemy  from  the  land  face,  upon  which 
the  army  attack  was  made.  The  fort  was  gallantly  taken, 
although  the  naval  assaulting  column  did  not  reach  the  parapet. 

All  that  night,  in  the  distance,  the  sky  was  lurid  with  the 
flames  of  the  burning  works,  abandoned  by  the  enemy.  Al- 
though the  battle  was  over,  the  hand  of  the  destroyer  yet 
lingered.  At  sunrise  on  the  15th  the  main  magazine  of  the 
fort  exploded,  burying  two  hundred  or  more  persons,  friends 
and  foes  alike,  beneath  the  falling  masses.  The  explosion  is 
supposed  to  have  occurred  from  some  drunken  men  entering  the 
magazine  with  a  light,  expecting  to  find  liquor.  The  army  loss 
in  killed  and  wounded  is  given  at  seven  hundred,  and  the  navy 
loss  at  three  hundred  and  eighty-three,  including  twenty  miss- 
ing, supposed  to  have  been  blown  up  by  the  explosion. 

Fort  Fisher  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  strongest  earthworks 


BOMBARDMENT  OF  FORT  FISHER.  4H 

ever  constructed  as  against  ships.  It  mounted  some  forty  guns, 
almost  without  exception  of  heavy  calibre  :  fifteen  of  them  were 
permanently  disabled,  generally  on  the  land  face.  In  the  first 
bombardment  a  number  of  our  Parrot  guns  burst,  causing  a 
serious  loss  of  life.  In  the  second  bombardment  the  admiral 
issued  an  order  forbidding  the  use  of  rifles.  Against  earth- 
works, when  employed  within  two  thousand  yards,  spherical  shells 
serve  a  more  effective  purpose,  in  my  belief,  than  the  same 
weight  of  projectiles  from  rifles ;  the  latter  have  too  much  pene- 
tration, and  the  bursting  charges  are  too  small  to  form  craters. 

There  were  thrown  by  the  fleet  into  Fort  Fisher  twenty-two 
thousand  spherical  shells,  containing  heavy  bursting  charges, 
and  weighing  no  less  than  two  million  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds. 

As  we  all  know,  a  brick  or  stone  fort  can  soon  be  destroyed 
by  rifled  guns  of  inconsiderable  power  at  a  distance  of  four 
thousand  yards  or  more.  Nevertheless,  the  superiority  of  spheri- 
cal-shell guns  against  earth  or  stone  works,  when  within  a  mile, 
is  established  in  the  belief  of  most  naval  men,  and  they  would 
say  the  more  guns  brought  against  the  earthwork  the  better. 
We  have  reason  to  believe  that  such  batteries  as  we  fought  are 
quite  within  the  control  of  the  number  of  guns  that  can  readily 
be  brought  against  them  by  even  an  insignificant  naval  power. 
Perhaps  for  this  reason  naval  officers  of  high  rank  in  our 
service,  without  exception,  so  far  as  I  know,  regard  favorably 
for  land  defence  revolving  turrets  of  large  dimensions,  known 
popularly  as  the  "  Timby  system."  Had  our  forts  such  appen- 
dages there  would  be  no  enfilading  them,  nor  would  it  be  possi- 
ble to  cover  the  guns  with  sand  by  shelling  them,  as  can  be 
done  with  sand-batteries.  To  insure  satisfactory  working  of  the 
turrets,  it  seems  to  me  that  they  should  be  water-borne,  which 
would  be  the  least  expensive  foundation  possible  for  such  great 
weights. 

Soon  after  the  explosion  of  the  powder-magazine,  so  fatal 
alike  to  friend  and  foe,  I  landed  near  the  Mound  battery,  which 
was  the  most  distant  from  the  direct  sea  face,  and  also  from  the 
guns  looking  up  the  sand-spit  over  which  our  assaulting  force 
had  to  advance. 


412         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

Accompanied  by  my  boat's  crew,  and  passing  along  between 
the  traverses  in  a  sheltered  spot,  we  came  suddenly  upon  a  woe- 
begone little  officer  of  a  North  Carolina  regiment,  who  was 
slightly  wounded  in  the  arm.  He,  in  fact,  disclosed  himself, 
and  was  in  a  most  indignant  mood,  by  reason  of  a  pointed  order, 
not  intended  for  his  ears,  that  my  boat's  crew  should  not  pick 
up  clothing  lying  around.  He  informed  me,  with  great  empha- 
sis, that  he  was  not  half  as  lousy  as  that  fellow  General  Butler, 
that  we  had  sent  down  there  on  the  first  bombardment  to  take 
the  fort,  and  he  hadn't  done  it.  An  indignant  man  is  always 
honest,  however  unreasonable,  in  his  belief,  and,  as  I  had  not 
come  there  to  argue  abstract  questions,  I  simply  told  him  to 
join  the  procession,  in  order  to  deliver  him  over  to  the  provost- 
marshal  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  We  soon  fell  in  with  Admiral 
Porter  and  joined  him,  passing  northward  along  the  sea  face, 
and  afterwards  the  face  looking  towards  the  sand-spit  and  the 
sea  lying  northward  of  the  fort.  I  fully  subscribed  to  the  con- 
tinuous remarks  of  the  admiral :  "  Well,  this  gun  could  not  be 
served,"  etc.  It  was  a  scene  of  actual  desolation.  After  we 
reached  the  bastion  between  the  sea  face  and  that  looking  land- 
ward, we  saw  lying  between  the  traverses  many  brave,  stalwart 
fellows  in  the  sleep  of  death.  Leaning  against  one  traverse, 
in  an  easy  sitting  posture,  was  a  handsome  youth,  who  in 
life  must  have  been  a  gentleman ;  his  features  were  so  natural 
that  nothing  but  the  glassy  eye  revealed  the  fact  that  he  was 
dead. 

For  a  month  before  our  first  bombardment  the  vessel  I  com- 
manded had  been  blockading  off  the  fort,  and  I  had  watched 
the  continuous  lines  of  wheelbarrows  carrying  sand  to  place  on 
the  casemates  or  bomb-proofs  and  build  up  traverses  that  we  in 
a  few  hours  of  bombardment  scattered  and  reduced  to  a  purpose- 
less mass.  This  labor,  and  the  campaigns  of  the  war,  plain  food, 
and  the  abnegation  gone  through,  whether  forced  or  otherwise, 
had  built  up  splendid  specimens  of  manhood,  such  as  now 
covered  the  spaces  between  the  traverses. 

In  relation  to  the  bombardment,  my  friend  Captain  John 
Pembroke  Jones,  of  the  Confederate  navy,  of  whom  I  have 
already  made  mention,  wrote  as  follows  : 


DRESSING    THE  SHIP   WITH  GREEN.  41 3 

"  Thank  you  for  the  interesting  notice  of  the  Fort  Fisher 
fight,  As  far  as  my  experience  went,  that  was  your  ablest  effort 
in  the  great  war.  It  was  the  triumph  of  pluck  and  persistence 
to  take  such  a  fortress  from  the  open  ocean  in  midwinter  and  so 
near  the  gales  of  Hatteras.  I  did  not  think  the  weather  would 
permit  you  to  succeed,  but  it  remained  calm  and  pleasant  as  if 
ordered  for  your  benefit.  The  fire  from  the  fleet  was  magnifi- 
cent and  fearful.  I  was  in  a  bomb-proof  on  the  sea  face  that 
wTas  made  of  heavy  gauging  timber  covered  with  sand,  and  I 
saw  the  whole  fight  face  to  face.  After  my  bomb-proof  was 
crushed  by  the  continuous  heavy  shot  and  shells,  I  retreated  on 
foot  across  the  entire  inner  area  of  the  fort,  a  Ions  distance,  and 
exposed  to  a  shower  of  shell  and  fragments,  indelibly  impressed 
on  my  memory  for  life.  There  was  in  my  path  such  a  mass  of 
smoking  shot,  shell  and  fragments  mixed  with  the  same  just 
arriving,  some  rolling,  some  squealing  over  my  head,  some 
ricocheting,  some  bursting,  and  many  smoking  at  the  fuse  as  if 
about  to  burst  as  I  stepped  over  them,  that  it  looked  like  a 
section  of  Dante's  Inferno." 

When  the  Mohican  was  lying  off  Beaufort  harbor,  just  before 
our  leaving  for  the  first  bombardment  of  Fort  Fisher,  I  went  in 
and  out  of  the  harbor  in  my  gig,  through  a  boat-channel  that 
passed  close  to  the  head  of  Shackleford  Island,  across  which  I 
would  walk  and  get  into  the  boat  from  the  outer  beach.  On 
my  last  return  to  the  Mohican,  Sweeny,  the  coxswain,  and  one 
or  two  of  the  crew,  asked  permission  to  accompany  me  across 
the  island.  As  we  passed  a  spot  where  cedar-bushes  abounded, 
Sweeny  said,  "  Captain,  when  Farragut  went  into  Mobile  all  the 
ships  were  dressed  with  evergreens  :  do  you  think  Mr.  Marvin 
would  let  us  dress  ship  if  we  would  take  the  bushes  on  board  ?" 
I  said  I  thought  he  would, — that  Marvin  was  a  very  good  fellow. 
The  bushes  were  cut  and  taken  on  board  in  the  bows  of  the 
boat,  and  when  I  stepped  over  the  ship's  side  I  was  received,  as 
is  usual  with  commanding  officers,  by  the  executive  officer.  I 
told  him  of  Sweeny's  request,  and  said  lie  should  permit  the 
bushes  to  be  kept  on  the  quarter-deck  until  we  were  ready  to  go 
into  action,  when  Sweeny  would  be  sent  for  to  display  his  taste 
in  decorating  the  ship. 


414  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

When  off  the  fort  and  standing  in  to  attack  it,  I  told  the 
executive  officer  to  send  for  Sweeny  and  say  he  could  set  about 
dressing  ship,  which  he  and  his  assistants  did,  much  to  their 
satisfaction.  I  did  not  quite  credit  Sweeny's  story  about  the 
ships  being  dressed  when  they  went  into  Mobile,  looking  upon 
it  as  merely  a  diplomatic  way  of  bringing  his  wish  to  my  favor- 
able consideration.  We  went  through  both  bombardments  with- 
out a  scratch,  while  several  of  our  fleet  double  the  distance  from 
the  fort  suffered  from  boilers  exploded  from  the  enemy's  shells 
or  from  other  casualties. 

After  the  second  bombardment,  on  the  morning  of  the  assault, 
Sweeny  said  to  me,  "  Captain,  you  will  not  go  on  this  assault 
without  taking  your  gig's  crew  with  you  ?"  I  said,  "  No, 
Sweeny  :  if  I  go,  you  will  not  have  to  volunteer :  you  shall  go 
too."  Younger  offieers  than  myself  led  the  naval  part  of  the 
assault,  in  which  my  gallant  coxswain  fell,  with  eleven  others 
belonging  to  the  vessel. 

Soon  after  the  explosion  of  the  powder-magazine,  when  walk- 
ing around  the  ruins  of  Fort  Sumter  I  met  Admiral  Porter, 
as  mentioned  on  a  preceding  page ;  before  we  parted  he  said, 
"  On  going  on  board  of  the  Mohican  you  wrill  find  orders  to 
proceed  without  delay  to  Port  Royal  and  report  to  Admiral 
Dahlgren  for  duty.  I  have  orders  from  the  Department  to  send 
all  the  force  no  longer  required  to  him.  You  will  say  on  your 
arrival  that  I  wish  you  to  communicate  personally  with  General 
Sherman  with  respect  to  my  further  movements  against  Wil- 
mington. It  will  take  one  or  two  tides,  or  more,  to  get  all  the 
vessels  intended  across  the  inner  bar  of  the  river,  and  a  day  or 
so  to  drag  for  torpedoes  as  we  go  up  the  river,  but  in  a  very 
few  days  I  will  occupy  Wilmington."  I  went  on  board,  signed 
and  sent  to  the  flag-ship  a  report  of  our  dead  and  wounded,  and 
had  to  leave  to  our  comrades  of  the  other  ships  the  duty  of  bury- 
ing our  dead  left  on  the  sea-beach  in  the  assault.  Those  who 
wish  to  read  of  the  desperate  defence  of  Fort  Fisher  during 
and  after  its  second  bombardment,  and  of  the  heroic  assault  and 
capture  of  that  work  by  our  forces,  will  find  a  full  account  in 
"  The  Atlantic  Coast,"  before  referred  to. 

The  next  forenoon  the  Mohican  was  at  anchor  in  Port  Royal, 


CALL    ON  MRS.   ANDERSON.  415 

and  I  went  on  board  of  the  flag-ship  to  report  the  arrival  of  the 
vessel  to  Admiral  Dahlgren  for  duty  under  his  command.  I 
stated  the  request  of  Admiral  Porter  that  I  should  communicate 
personally  with  General  Sherman  in  Savannah  and  give  him 
a  confidential  message.  It  was  thought  more  convenient  to  send 
me  in  a  tug  through  Skull  Creek  than  for  me  to  take  the  Mo- 
hican around  by  sea  and  anchor  in  the  river  below  the  obstruc- 
tions some  miles  from  the  city.  I  left  early  the  next  morning, 
and  was  eight  hours  reaching  Savannah ;  the  tug  was  miserably 
slow,  from  her  boiler-power  being  worn  out  and  from  her  having 
a  foul  bottom.  On  reaching  the  head-quarters  of  General 
Sherman  I  told  him  that  Admiral  Porter  had  requested  that  I 
should  see  him  to  say  that  several  days  would  probably  pass 
before  he  could  reach  Wilmington,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of 
getting  his  vessels  across  the  inner  bar,  and  additional  time 
necessary  to  drag  the  river  for  the  torpedoes  that  the  enemy  had 
probably  planted  in  it.  The  general  told  me  a  message  had  just 
been  flagged  from  Port  Royal  that  Wilmington  had  been  taken. 
I  told  him  I  felt  sure  it  was  a  mistake,  as  I  doubted  even  the 
arrival  of  any  vessel  from  off  Wilmington  since  I  had  brought 
the  Mohican  in,  about  thirty-six  hours  before  ;  at  all  events,  the 
vessels  could  not  have  got  into  the  river  and  dragged  it  for  tor- 
pedoes since  I  had  left.  The  general  said  good  news  would  keep, 
and  he  would  not  give  it  publicity  until  it  should  be  confirmed.  I 
sent  the  tug  back  immediately  on  my  arrival  at  Savannah,  and 
returned  to  Port  Royal  on  board  of  the  Leary,  an  army  trans- 
port, thirty-six  hours  later.  On  my  taking  leave,  General 
Sherman  told  me  to  say  to  Admiral  Dahlgren  that  he  intended 
to  move  as  soon  as  the  rains  ceased,  and  that  his  march  would 
cut  off  Charleston  and  insure  its  evacuation ;  so  really  there 
would  be  no  advantage  in  taking  Charleston,  however  ample  his 
force  might  be. 

Before  leaving  Savannah,  I  went  to  see  the  wife  and  family 
of  my  friend  Anderson,  who  for  many  years  before  the  war  had 
been  mayor  of  that  city.  After  the  taking  of  Fort  McAllister, 
General  Sherman  was  on  the  point  of  investing  the  city,  when 
General  Hardee,  commanding  the  Confederate  forces,  escaped 
across  the  river  into  South  Carolina  with  twelve  or  fifteen  thou- 


416         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE   NEW. 

sand  men  to  join  General  Johnston,  Anderson's  command  being 
a  part.  With  Mrs.  Anderson  were  her  three  daughters,  the 
eldest  perhaps  twenty  years  of  age,  the  second  fifteen,  and  the 
third  eight  or  ten,  and  a  son,  still  younger.  On  my  being 
announced,  the  children  came  down  pell-mell  to  see  me,  and 
greeted  me  in  the  most  affectionate  manner ;  the  younger  ones 
inquired  when  I  had  last  seen  them.  I  replied,  "  Never :  you 
were  born  several  years  after  I  was  last  in  this  city."  Mrs. 
Anderson  came  in  after  a  time,  and  was  a  little  stiff,  although  I 
saw  she  felt  rather  uncomfortable  in  that  attitude.  She  soon 
taunted  me  by  saying,  "  This  is  a  nice  business  you  are  engaged 
in,  coming  along  our  coasts  to  rob  us  of  our  slaves."  I  said 
that  was  not  at  all  the  object  of  our  visit ;  the  slaves  leaving 
them  was  a  mere  incident :  besides,  I  was  quite  surprised  at  her 
expression  in  regard  to  the  slaves ;  I  recalled  the  fact  that  when 
I  was  last  under  her  roof  she  had  said  that  she  wished  Anderson 
did  not  own  a  slave, — that  it  imposed  upon  her  not  only  great 
labor,  but  great  disgust.  I  at  that  time  consoled  her  by  saying 
that  nobody  was  a  free  agent,  and  they  had  to  accept  and  bear 
it  as  a  burden  for  which  they  were  not  responsible.  Now,  in 
her  mind,  the  negro  seemed  to  be  a  great  comfort  and  a  blessing, 
whereas  years  before  she  had  regarded  him  as  an  annoyance  and 
a  sorrow. 

Before  I  left  the  city  I  called  again.  I  told  Mrs.  Anderson 
that  she  knew  well  the  affectionate  relation  that  had  existed  for 
so  many  years  between  her  husband  and  myself,  and,  although 
I  knew  nothing  about  their  financial  affairs,  I  knew  that  war 
generally  impoverished  everybody  whose  property  was  within  the 
march  of  armies,  and  if  I  could  assist  her  financially  it  would 
be  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  do  so.  She  was  aware,  too,  that 
nobody  was  dependent  on  me,  nor  had  I  any  obligation  in  life 
that  demanded  a  call  on  my  purse,  which,  although  not  large, 
was  ample,  I  hoped,  to  meet  her  wants  and  those  of  her  children. 
She  thanked  me,  and  said  she  thought  they  could  get  along  very 
well  without  assistance ;  that  she  had  in  her  house  as  boarders 
several  officers  of  our  army  who  were  gentlemen,  and  she  hoped 
she  would  be  able  to  meet  the  family  expenses.  I  told  her  it 
was  my  belief  that  her  boarders  would  profit  more  from  the 


TEE  OGEECEEE.  417 

association  than  she  would,  from  a  pecuniary  point  of  view. 
After  my  return  to  the  Mohican  at  Port  Royal  it  occurred  to 
me  that  the  very  natural  pride  of  Mrs.  Anderson  had  caused 
her  without  sufficient  reflection  to  refuse  to  accept  what  she 
actually  needed,  and  for  that  reason  I  sent  by  express  several 
hundred  dollars  to  her,  with  a  note  saying  that  perhaps  she  might 
really  need  it,  and,  if  so,  she  should  keep  it  as  a  loan  :  if  Ander- 
son could  repay  me  afterwards,  very  well  j  if  not,  it  would 
make  no  difference,  as  I  would  not  need  it.  In  return,  I 
received  a  very  affectionate  note  of  thanks,  saying  that  she 
would  gladly  accept,  and  that  she  really  needed  the  money. 
Before  I  went  North  I  sent  her  as  much  more,  and  wrote  that 
on  my  arrival  North  I  should  arrange  for  sending  a  monthly 
allowance  sufficient  to  support  her  and  her  children  until  Ander- 
son got  home  j  virtually  the  war  was  over,  and  his  marching 
around  the  country  as  a  soldier  under  Hardee  was  pure  nonsense ; 
he  would  far  better  come  home  and  take  care  of  her  and  the 
children. 

Two  months  later,  and  before  I  had  made  arrangements  to 
carry  out  my  expressed  intentions,  I  received  a  letter  from 
Anderson  in  Savannah,  he  having  gone  home  on  the  disbanding 
of  the  army.  He  thanked  me  warmly  for  my  kindness  to  his 
family,  but  expressed  a  doubt  as  to  his  ever  being  able  to  repay 
me, — which,  however,  he  did  a  year  or  so  later.  I  would  not 
have  accepted  the  face  value  of  what  I  had  sent,  as  I  wrote 
him,  had  he  not  been  one  of  the  men  who  had  aided  in  depreci- 
ating the  currency,  which  in  round  numbers  was  two  hundred 
and  fifty  for  gold,  and,  when  returned  to  me,  perhaps  one  hun- 
dred per  cent,  discount. 

On  my  return  to  Port  Royal  the  admiral  put  the  Mohican  to 
towing  coal -schooners  to  Charleston  to  supply  the  monitors  and 
other  vessels  blockading.  After  some  ten  days  and  nights  had 
been  spent  in  this  work,  he  ordered  the  vessel  to  the  blockade 
of  the  Ogeechee  River,  to  go  as  high  up  as  possible.  Owing 
to  shoal  water  and  piling,  the  vessel  could  get  no  higher  than  the 
vicinity  occupied  by  the  monitors  when  they  shelled  McAllister. 
As  our  forces  were  then  in  occupancy  of  Savannah,  there  could 
be  no  advantage  to  us  in  destroying  a  railroad  bridge  above  us 

27 


418  THE   OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

which  General  Sherman  would  have  destroyed  had  he  wished, 
when  he  was  there,  and  this  destruction  would  have  been  neces- 
sary to  the  literal  fulfilment  of  my  order.  The  enemy  had 
placed  a  great  many  torpedoes  in  the  river,  to  explode  by  con- 
tact, one  of  which  had  done  so  under  the  bottom  of  the  Montauk, 
and  would  have  sunk  her  had  not  circumstances  favored  her 
being  kept  afloat.  Nearly  one  year  after  I  had  left  the  Ogeechee, 
I  read  in  a  newspaper  of  a  schooner  passing  in  those  waters 
that  had  struck  a  torpedo  and  been  sunk  by  it.  It  had  probably 
been  placed  there  more  than  two  years  before  it  had  shown  its 
efficacy. 

In  landing  troops  north  of  Fort  Fisher  at  the  time  of  the 
first  bombardment,  forty  boats  belonging  to  vessels-of-war  were 
capsized,  several  men  were  drowned,  and  many  were  maimed, 
and  the  ammunition  wetted,  from  the  lack  of  adaptation  of  such 
boats  to  land  troops  on  an  exposed  sand- beach  in  a  rough  sea. 
I  designed  a  cask  raft,  went  on  one  of  the  islands,  selected  the 
best  timber  available,  cut  it,  brought  it  on  board,  whip-sawed 
it  into  planks,  and  constructed  what  is  still  known  in  the  navy 
as  the  Ammen  balsa.  It  served  at  least  as  a  pattern  to  make 
others  capable  of  landing  troops  and  munitions  on  exposed 
beaches  in  surfs  which  would  be  impracticable  with  the  boats 
which  vessels-of-war  usually  carry. 

The  Mohican  was  kept  in  the  Ogeechee  until  the  9th  of 
March,  as  uselessly  employed  as  ever  vessel  was.  In  washing 
ship  around,  the  crew  of  a  boat  punched  a  hole  through  the 
side-planking  a  foot  or  more  in  length  and  several  inches  in 
width,  through  which  a  very  fair  view  of  the  berth-deck  could 
be  had.  This  damage  was  effected  by  means  of  an  ordinary 
boat-hook  having  a  knob  at  the  end  of  the  spike  part.  I  made 
an  official  statement  and  application  for  a  survey  on  the  vessel, 
and,  as  ordered,  proceeded  to  Port  Royal,  where  a  survey  was 
held  and  the  vessel  was  directed  to  proceed  to  Hampton  Roads, 
via  Beaufort,  to  obtain  the  spars  that  I  had  left  on  shore  there 
several  months  before.  We  sailed  two  days  later.  Off  the 
capes  of  the  Chesapeake  we  saw  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
refractions  that  I  have  ever  seen  ;  vessels  appeared  that  were 
below  the  horizon,  and  over  them  their  inverted  images,  the 


SURRENDER    OF  LEE'S  ARMY.  419 

mast-heads  touching.  Such  sights  are  rare :  I  suppose  I  have 
seen  much  the  same  perhaps  half  a  dozen  times  in  my  twenty- 
one  years  passed  afloat. 

We  entered  Hampton  Roads  on  the  15th,  and  received  orders 
to  take  the  vessel  to  Washington  Navy- Yard.  After  lying 
there  until  the  2d  of  April,  we  were  ordered  to  the  Boston 
Navy- Yard,  where  we  arrived  on  the  10th.  The  news  of  the 
surrender  of  Lee's  army  on  the  following  day  made  the  people 
absolutely  wild  with  excitement;  every  one  seemed  filled  to 
overflowing  with  liquor,  and  many  unmistakably  were  so. 
Knowing  the  thoroughly  rotten  condition  of  the  ship,  I  had 
felt  a  great  deal  of  apprehension  in  bringing  her  North  at  that 
season  of  the  year.  Had  we  encountered  a  heavy  gale,  the 
chances  of  weathering  it  would  have  been  much  against  us; 
but  I  said  nothing  about  this  to  any  one  on  board.  On  the 
25th  of  April  the  vessel  was  put  out  of  commission  and  the 
officers  granted  the  usual  leave.  I  left  in  the  store-room  under 
the  cabin  a  small  trunk,  which  was  broken  open  before  the  next 
day,  and  my  official  and  other  papers  taken  :  they  were  of  no 
value  to  the  thief,  but  their  loss  was  a  great  inconvenience  to  me. 
The  civil  war  was  over;  we  had  a  respite,  with  nothing  to 
disturb  the  even  tenor  of  our  way.  War  is  a  sad  thing; 
humanity  justly  shudders  when  well-meaning  men,  men  without 
enmity,  are  pitted  against  one  another,  without  any  just  cause 
for  combat.  There  seems  to  be  no  explanation  why  wars  are 
waged,  and  will  be  waged  to  the  end  of  time,  other  than  the 
unhappy  fact  that  the  prejudices  of  men  far  outweigh  their 
reason. 


420  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

In  Command  of  the  Miantonomah — Description  of  the  Vessel — She  is  sent 
abroad — The  Author  detached — Consult  with  General  Grant  as  to  the  Prac- 
ticability of  a  Ship-Canal  across  the  Isthmus — Proposed  Visit  to  Secretary 
Seward — Discuss  the  Ship-Canal — Acquisition  of  Alaska — Visit  to  Francis 
P.  Blair — An  Unruly  Horse — General  Grant  tells  a  Story  of  being  thrown 
by  a  Colt,  when  a  Boy — Visit  to  the  United  States  of  Admiral  Tegethoff, 
of  the  Austrian  Navy — The  French  in  Mexico — General  Grant  "  swing- 
ing around  the  Circle"  with  President  Johnson  and  Admiral  Farragut — 
Am  appointed  on  a  Board  to  examine  Volunteer  Officers  of  the  Navy — 
General  Grant  as  Secretary  of  War — He  discourses  of  President  Johnson — 
Governor  Swann,  of  Maryland— Am  ordered  in  Command  of  the  Flag- 
ship Piscataqua. 

During  the  civil  war  our  naval  force  was  constantly  increas- 
ing; and  at  its  close  we  were  just  completing  a  class  of  steam- 
frigates  fast  for  the  time,  and  several  improved  vessels  of  the 
monitor  type,  among  them  the  Miantonomah.  That  vessel  was 
put  in  commission  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard  in  October,  1865. 
She  was  to  be  a  show-ship  at  Washington,  and  I  was  ordered 
to  the  command.  In  speed,  strength  of  hull,  and  comfort,  the 
Miantonomah  was  a  great  improvement  over  any  of  the  turret- 
ships  built  previously.  She  had  no  "overhang,"  as  had  the 
monitor  class,  and,  as  bilge-keels  were  not  then  in  use  with  us, 
she  had  none  ;  I  was  agreeably  surprised,  on  getting  to  sea,  to 
find  that  she  did  not  roll  so  deeply  as  I  had  feared.  Her  steam- 
power  was  small  for  her  displacement,  and  we  were  content  to 
go  along  at  the  rate  of  eleven  knots  an  hour  in  the  Potomac 
on  our  voyage  to  Washington,  where  we  arrived  in  November. 
Somebody  in  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard  who  wished  the  vessel 
to  go  down  at  sea  had  placed  a  quantity  of  wire  in  the  valves ; 
but  his  malice  was  ineffective,  as  it  only  caused  them  to  leak. 
On  our  arrival,  tens  of  thousands  of  people  came  on  board  to 
look  at  the  vessel.  At  that  time,  in  my  belief,  she  was  the 
strongest  vessel-of-war  afloat,  being  armed  with  four  fifteen-inch 
guns,  with  relatively  rapid  and  easy  methods  of  serving  them, 
as  compared  with  other  vessels  of  that  time.      The  monitors 


PRACTICABILITY  OF  A  SHIP-CANAL.  421 

designed  by  Ericsson  were  singularly  deficient  in  model  and  in 
steam-power.  No  one  was  better  able  to  appreciate  the  factors 
that  permit  speed  than  he ;  in  his  mind,  doubtless,  the  exact 
amount  of  flotation  to  carry  the  guns  and  the  steam-power 
requisite  to  take  them  in  and  out  of  action  at  a  low  rate  of 
speed  constituted  all  that  was  necessary  to  their  efficiency. 

In  the  early  part  of  1866  the  Navy  Department  determined 
to  send  the  Miantonomah  abroad.  General  Grant  exerted  him- 
self in  vain  to  prevent  this  unwise  action.  Her  voyage  furnished 
an  incentive  to  European  powers  to  compete  in  the  construction 
of  armored  ships,  which  has  continued  in  force  to  the  present 
time,  to  the  end  that  the  last  one  built  should  be  in  point  of  size, 
armor  plating,  and  battery  more  formidable  than  any  that  had 
preceded. 

About  the  middle  of  April,  on  my  application,  I  was  detached 
from  the  command  of  the  Miantonomah.  A  month  later  she 
left,  accompanied  by  the  Augusta,  and  visited  most  of  the  ports 
of  Europe.  She  was  received  by  the  Russians  at  Cronstadt 
with  special  favor.  From  the  newspaper  accounts  published  in 
England  at  the  time,  the  vessel  was  an  astonishment  to  the 
British,  and  her  superiority  in  power  to  any  vessel  afloat  was 
acknowledged.  At  present,  she  would  be  a  mere  pygmy  in  size, 
armor  plating,  or  armament,  in  comparison  with  almost  every 
vessel  that  Great  Britain  would  rely  upon  in  the  event  of  war. 

During  this  winter  in  Washington,  when  in  command  of  the 
Miantonomah,  I  saw  much  of  General  Grant,  and  brought  to 
his  notice  the  great  importance  of  ascertaining  whether  a  ship- 
canal  was  practicable  across  the  American  isthmus.  It  was  a 
question  that  had  to  be  settled,  as  Humboldt  had  suggested,  by 
extended  surveys  before  the  United  States  could  have  a  deter- 
minate policy,  recognized  by  Jefferson  in  1788,  a  third  of  a 
century  later  by  Clay,  and  later  still,  in  1833,  by  Jackson,  who 
sent  a  special  agent  to  Central  America  to  look  into  the  matter. 
Yet  some  self-styled  "  Jeifersonian  Democrats"  consider  the 
construction  of  the  canal  of  little  moment,  and  express  entire  in- 
difference as  to  whether  if  constructed  it  shall  be  under  American 
or  European  control.  I  shall  have  more  to  say  on  the  subject 
in  the  following  pages. 


422  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

In  February,  1866,  General  Grant  proposed  that  I  should  go 
with  him  to  see  Mr.  Seward ;  and,  in  order  not  to  trench  upon 
his  official  time,  we  made  our  visit  in  the  evening  at  his  resi- 
dence. The  general  stated  his  belief  in  the  great  advantage  of 
making  a  thorough  reconnoissanee  of  the  isthmus,  and  remarked 
that  the  route  that  offered  the  greatest  advantages  having  been 
determined,  the  survey  should  be  as  perfect  as  possible,  and,  if 
the  canal  should  be  found  commercially  practicable,  its  construc- 
tion should  be  forwarded.  Before  we  left,  General  Grant  sug- 
gested that  we  should  pay  Mr.  Seward  a  visit  at  the  Department 
at  any  time  he  might  name.  The  Secretary  named  a  day  which 
General  Grant  said  would  not  permit  his  attendance,  as  he  was 
obliged  to  be  in  New  York  just  then  on  official  business,  and 
he  suggested  that  I  should  go,  which  was  assented  to.  At  the 
time  named,  I  sent  my  card  to  Mr.  Seward,  and  was  informed 
that,  owing  to  the  death  of  Mr.  King,  of  New  York,  who  had 
committed  suicide  by  jumping  from  a  ferry-boat,  he  was  in  con- 
sultation with  friends  and  could  not  see  me.  I  left  a  message 
that  at  any  time  he  might  wish  to  see  me  I  should  be  entirely 
at  his  service.  Later  on,  the  general  told  me  that  he  would  not 
go  to  see  Mr.  Seward  again ;  for  that  should  he  do  so  he  felt 
satisfied  he  would  hate  him.  I  did  not  ask  what  had  occurred, 
but  had  no  doubt  that  he  had  seen  Mr.  Seward,  and  with  that 
very  result.  Yet  we  see  it  stated  of  Secretary  Seward  that  he 
was  the  ardent  promoter  of  the  canal  inquiry,  and  the  advocate 
of  forwarding  its  construction. 

One  morning,  on  my  going  into  General  Grant's  office,  he 
asked  if  I  had  heard  the  news  of  the  acquisition  of  Alaska  by 
treaty.  I  expressed  my  surprise  and  gratification.  The  general 
remarked  that  he  had  not  thought  of  it  at  all ;  it  had  never 
been  presented  to  him  one  way  or  the  other.  I  said  that  there 
was  little  doubt  in  my  mind  that  the  deep-sea  fisheries  would  be 
found  very  valuable,  and,  if  so,  they  would  attract  a  large 
population  inured  to  the  sea,  which  would  secure  to  us  the  con- 
trol of  the  Pacific,  by  having  proper  vessels-of-war  on  the  west 
coast  to  dominate  those  seas,  should  we  have  a  war.  No  nation 
would  be  disposed  to  dispute  our  supremacy  of  those  seas  when 
our  advantages  were  so  obvious.     We  alreadv  knew  that  the 


AN    UNRULY  HORSE.  423 

salmon-fisheries  were  profitable,  and  there  was  reason  to  believe 
that  the  timber  for  knees  on  the  Yukon  River  would  prove  of 
great  value.  I  was  not  then  aware  that  iron  knees  had  already 
taken  the  place  of  wooden  ones  in  ship-construction  abroad,  and 
were  on  the  point  of  doing  so  with  us. 

General  Comstock,  chief  of  staff,  came  in,  and  had  something- 
to  say  depreciatory  of  the  Alaskan  acquisition.  General  Grant 
said  that  I  thought  very  highly  of  it,  and  had  given  reasons 
worth  considering.  There  are  many  obvious  reasons  to-day 
sustaining  the  advantage  of  that  acquisition,  but  they  will  only 
be  fully  appreciated  after  the  opening  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 
when  the  vast  timber-supply  of  that  region  will  be  brought  into 
requisition. 

I  had  known  the  family  of  Francis  P.  Blair  for  a  number 
of  years.  His  third  son,  James,  and  myself  were  classmates 
and  shipmates  on  board  the  frigate  Macedonian  when  I"  entered 
the  navy.  The  first  person  pointed  out  to  me  in  Washington  by 
my  friend  Hamer,  who  got  me  my  appointment  and  brought  me 
on,  as  already  stated,  was  Mr.  Blair.  He  said,  "  Look  at  that 
man  riding  so  fast  along  the  avenue :  his  political  enemies  call 
him  '  Death  on  the  Pale  Horse.'  You  have  heard  of  that  picture, 
have  you  not?"  For  a  considerable  number  of  years  before 
the  civil  war  Mr.  Blair  had  lived  during  the  summer  at  Silver 
Spring,  a  locality  six  miles  north  of  Washington,  aud  later,  he 
lived  there  the  year  round.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  rare  humor 
and  agreeability,  always  willing  to  laugh  if  the  occasion  war- 
ranted it.  The  only  means  of  reaching  Silver  Spring  at  that 
time  was  by  carriage  or  on  horseback,  and  the  latter  was  always 
my  mode  of  going  anywhere,  in  the  region  round  Washington. 
Mentioning  to  General  Grant  that  it  was  my  intention  to  pay 
a  visit  to  Mr.  Blair,  either  he  or  General  Comstock  proposed 
that  I  should  ride  the  latter's  horse.  At  the  hour  named  the 
horse  was  brought  to  my  door,  and  I  mounted.  The  animal 
was  a  powerful  gray.  On  the  road  out,  he  did  not  seem  to  wish 
to  go  directly  ahead,  but  would  go  sideways,  and  of  course 
crossed  the  road  again  and  again  all  the  time,  and  pranced,  so 
that  when  I  had  dismounted  at  Silver  Spring,  a  distance  of  six 
miles,  I  reckoned  that  the  horse  had  gone  double  that  distance, 


424  THE  OLD  NAVF  AND    THE  NEW. 

and  I  one-half  more.  Although  the  day  was  cold,  his  exertions 
had  thrown  his  neck  into  a  lather  and  wetted  the  reins,  and 
when  I  mounted  to  return  to  Washington  he  carried  me  a  good 
deal  faster  than  I  wished  to  go. 

At  Mr.  Blair's  there  were  several  Southern  gentlemen  who 
had  come  out  in  a  carriage.  We  dined  with  Mr.  Blair,  and 
it  was  late  when  we  got  ready  to  return.  There  was  snow 
on  the  ground,  and  after  the  gentlemen  had  got  some  start 
into  the  main  road,  which,  although  macadamized,  was  very 
muddy,  I  mounted,  and  soon  found  that  the  humor  of  my 
horse  had  entirely  changed ;  he  no  longer  pranced  nor  wished 
to  go  sideways,  but  went  straight  ahead,  and  as  fast  as  he 
could  tear.  I  passed  my  Southern  friends  like  a  shot;  they 
yelled  after  me  to  know  why  I  rode  so  fast.  It  was  quite  in- 
voluntary on  my  part.  Had  I  been  able  to  hold  the  horse  I 
should  have  told  them  it  was  his  whim,  not  mine.  The  wetted 
reins  slipped  through  my  fingers,  and  he  had  it  all  his  own  way ; 
and  for  a  mile  or  two  we  went  at  a  breakneck  speed,  much  to 
my  chagrin.  On  reaching  the  top  of  a  considerable  hill,  with  a 
steep  slope  before  me,  I  wheeled  the  horse  into  the  recess  of  a 
high  board  fence  on  the  right,  so  that  he  had  either  to  restrain 
himself,  or  to  break  his  neck  against  it.  My  object  in  this 
manoeuvre  was  to  dismount,  lead  him  down  the  hill,  and  re- 
mount at  the  foot  of  it,  where  a  considerable  up  grade  would 
give  me  an  advantage  in  controlling  him.  This  I  did,  but  I 
had  no  sooner  mounted  again  than  he  tore  furiously  up  the  hill, 
and  on  reaching  the  summit  his  wind  was  hardly  impaired ; 
away  we  went  down  the  next  slope  at  such  a  pace  that  a  looker- 
on  would  have  wondered  what  inspired  the  rider  to  such  reck- 
lessness. We  were  on  the  Seventh  Street  road,  and,  seeing  a  large 
open  plain  on  my  right  made  bare  by  a  recent  large  encampment 
of  troops,  I  directed  our  course  over  it.  The  nearly  full  moon 
was  sufficiently  high  to  light  the  surroundings,  and  as  I  sped 
over  that  plain  upon  that  powerful  horse,  I  thought  of  the  story 
of  the  Wild  Huntsman  that  I  had  read  as  a  boy,  and  smiled  at 
it ;  but  then  came  in  a  flash  a  sense  of  the  reality ;  it  was  a 
question  whether  at  any  moment  I  would  not  have  my  brains 
knocked  out.     I  lost  my  cap  in  my  rapid  flight ;  a  ravine  was 


GENERAL    GRANT  THROWN  BY  A    COLT.  425 

near  at  hand,  worn  in  the  clay,  and  I  put  the  horse  into  that, 
and  sped  onward  without  abatement.  On  my  right  was  Co- 
lumbia College,  and  in  front  of  it  hundreds  of  army-wagons 
parked.  I  turned  the  horse  among  them  to  bring  him  up, 
either  by  breaking  his  neck  or  demanding  his  exertions  in 
abating  his  speed.  On  his  coming  to  a  stand  I  dismounted,  and 
found  that  my  efforts  to  restrain  him  had  sprained  my  right 
hip-joint ;  and  yet,  rather  than  ride  him  into  the  city  I  led  him 
more  than  a  mile,  to  his  stable,  of  course  without  a  covering  for 
my  head,  for  I  had  left  my  cap  miles  away.  It  might  well 
have  been  called  an  unconditional  surrender,  and  that  horse  was 
the  only  one  that  ever  got  the  "  weather-gage"  of  me. 

When  I  told  General  Grant  of  this  ride,  tears  came  into  his 
eyes,  not  tears  of  sympathy  with  a  friend  who  has  been  in  im- 
minent peril,  but  of  irrepressible  enjoyment  of  the  ludicrousness 
of  my  situation.  Indeed,  I  may  say  of  such  a  ride,  that  the 
man  who  made  it  is  the  only  one  who  would  not  be  amused  at 
it.  On  a  subsequent  visit  Mr.  Blair  "  pumped  it  out"  of  me, 
and  enjoyed  it  as  much  as  General  Grant.  I  never  attempted 
to  ride  that  horse  again.  General  Grant  said  that  my  mistake 
was  in  not  carrying  an  anchor  and  letting  it  go  at  the  proper 
time  and  veering  away  cable  to  bring  him  up  with  a  round 
turn. 

The  general  then  told  me  that  when  he  was  a  boy  and  I  had 
gone  to  sea  he  went  to  my  father  and  asked  the  loan  of  a  small 
sorrel  colt  that  I  had  been  in  the  habit  of  riding.  My  father 
said  his  only  objection  was  that  he  feared  the  horse  would  throw 
him,  that  he  threw  my  brother,  who  was  eight  years  older  than 
I,  and  every  one  who  attempted  to  ride  him,  except  myself.  He 
replied  that  he  was  not  at  all  afraid  of  being  thrown.  So  the 
horse  was  bridled,  and  a  saddle  blanket  strapped  on,  which  was 
the  way  we  rode  as  boys  ;  he  mounted,  the  colt  went  off  at  a 
gallop  for  some  distance  until  he  came  to  a  small  stream ;  when 
in  the  middle  of  it  in  an  instant  he  threw  his  forefeet  forward, 
and  his  head  down,  and  the  rider  vaulted  over  his  head  into  the 
mud  and  water.  Having  disposed  of  his  load,  the  colt  turned 
and  ran  home  at  full  speed.  Young  Grant  met  my  father  com- 
ing in  haste,  fearing  he  had  sustained  some  injury.     On  meet- 


426         THE   OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

ing  him  my  father  expressed  his  gratification  that  no  further 
mishap  had  occurred  than  his  being  wet  and  muddy. 

In  my  riding  since  that  time  I  have  frequently  been  thrown 
by  mules  and  donkeys,  but,  until  two  years  ago,  never  by 
a  horse.  I  was  mounted  on  an  animal  that  I  had  broken  as 
a  colt,  very  quick  in  its  movements,  but  withal  well  disposed. 
As  a  colt  it  would  kick  at  everything,  and  only  quit  that  vicious 
habit  from  my  always  giving  it  sugar  when  it  was  brought  up 
for  my  ride.  The  horse  wished  to  turn,  as  usual,  on  a  road, 
and  I  wished  to  go  straight  ahead,  and,  as  the  animal  insisted 
on  its  movement,  I  drew  the  reins  smartly  around,  and  batted 
him  with  a  whip,  which  caused  him  to  rear  and  plunge  and  set 
to  bucking  in  rough  ground  covered  with  high  grass  that  con- 
cealed the  ruts.  In  these  irregular  movements  my  hat  flew  off, 
and  in  an  attempt  to  recover  it  I  threw  my  right  hand  so  far 
out  as  to  lose  my  balance  and  fall  over  the  neck  of  the  horse 
into  the  grass,  some  distance  ahead.  I  feared  he  would  become 
frightened  and  in  running  step  upon  me.  Instead  of  starting 
to  run,  however,  he  put  his  head  down  and  began  to  crop  the 
grass  with  great  avidity ;  he  had  no  idea  that  I  had  been  thrown  j 
in  his  idea  I  had  only  taken  an  unusual  way  of  dismounting. 

During  the  winter,  Admiral  Tegethoff,  of  the  Austrian  Navy, 
paid  a  visit  to  Washington.  At  his  request  I  went  with  him  to 
a  reception  of  General  Grant.  We  went  early,  and  he  had  an 
agreeable  interview ;  when  it  came  to  getting  out  it  was  found 
difficult ;  an  immense  crowd  set  steadily  in,  and  after  a  fruitless 
endeavor  for  some  time  I  suggested  another  mode  of  exit.  We 
went  through  a  back  door  and  gained  the  street,  much  to  the  satis- 
faction and  amusement  of  the  admiral.  Pie  gave  me  a  graphic 
account  of  the  battle  of  Lissa,  in  which  he  gained  a  victory  over 
a  superior  force.  I  shall  have  more  to  write  in  relation  to  this 
battle. 

The  presence  of  the  French  in  Mexico  was  very  distasteful  to 
General  Grant.  He  asked  me  whether  in  the  event  of  a  war 
with  France  our  navy  would  be  able  to  hold  the  ports  of  Mexico 
in  the  Gulf.  I  replied,  "  Yes ;  for  the  most  part  it  is  made  up 
of  rattle-traps,  but  we  have  vessels  that  will  be  able  to  do  that 
work."     Some  months  later,  he  told  me  that  Mr.  Seward  had 


APPOINTED   TO  EXAMINE    VOLUNTEER   OFFICERS.     427 

written  demanding  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops  from 
Mexico,  and  was  very  much  surprised  at  the  ready  compliance 
of  the  French  government.  He  said  Sheridan  was  on  the  Rio 
Grande  with  seventy  thousand  troops,  ready  to  cross  over,  and 
if  the  French  were  not  willing  to  go  he  had  the  force  to  drive 
them  out.  Their  being  in  Mexico  was  in  itself  an  insult  to  us, 
and  was  based  upon  the  false  idea  that  we  could  not  maintain 
the  integrity  of  the  Union. 

After  I  left  Washington  I  did  not  meet  General  Grant  until 
he  was  "  swinging  around  the  circle"  with  President  Johnson, 
accompanied  by  Admiral  Farragut.  When  he  passed  through 
York,  Pennsylvania,  where  I  was  then  living,  he  sent  me  a 
telegram  to  meet  him  at  the  railroad  station.  Perhaps  on  no 
other  occasion  have  I  seen  General  Grant  discomposed.  He  did 
not  like  "  swinging  around  the  circle."  I  lived  until  the  autumn 
at  York  on  leave  of  absence,  and  had  the  sympathy  of  Father 
Murray,  who  told  me  "  he  hoped  I  would  soon  get  employment." 
I  remarked  that  the  Navy  Department  knew  where  I  was,  and 
I  had  great  confidence  that  I  would  not  be  forgotten.  Much  to 
his  relief,  early  in  the  winter  "  employment"  was  given  me  as  a 
member  of  a  board  of  officers  appointed  by  a  law  of  Congress 
for  the  examination  and  admission  of  such  volunteer  officers  of 
the  navy  as  were  found  adaptable.  The  Board  was  convened  at 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  had  been  sitting  for  several  months 
without  having  examined  many,  owing  to  the  length  of  time 
occupied  in  the  examination  of  each  one,  and  the  fear  inspired 
among  the  volunteer  officers  that  it  would  prove  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  forbid  their  success.  With  an  increase  of  the  number  of 
the  Board  a  division  of  labor  was  made,  and  with  a  less  ex- 
penditure of  time  a  much  larger  number  appeared  and  were 
passed  upon.  These  examinations  resulted  in  the  admission  into 
the  navy  of  some  fifty  volunteer  officers,  who  with  a  very  few 
exceptions  have  proven  themselves  in  every  way  worthy,  and  in 
many  cases  especially  so.  The  following  spring  the  Board  con- 
vened at  intervals  in  Washington  as  batches  of  officers  arrived 
from  abroad,  or,  if  honorably  discharged,  obtained  the  requisite 
authority  from  the  Department  to  be  examined.  When  in 
Washington  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  General  Grant  fre- 


428  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

quently.  I  usually  was  his  guest  aud  was  invited  almost  daily 
to  a  drive  over  the  country  in  a  buggy,  a  recreation  that  he  did 
not  wish  to  forego.  In  the  early  autumn,  owing  to  the  perturbed 
condition  of  the  political  situation,  he  spoke  freely  to  me.  He 
is  known  as  the  " silent  man,"  as  the  "sphinx"  to  interviewers, 
and  to  persons  who  approached  him  in  whom  he  had  no  confi- 
dence; he  knew  well  that  they  were  not  disposed  to  present 
what  he  said  as  he  said  it, — unless  it  suited  their  purpose,  but 
to  misrepresent  all  that  he  said  to  suit  their  ends ;  he  had  learned, 
too,  that  it  was  idle  to  attempt  to  contradict  what  these  irresponsi- 
ble men  uttered  as  coming  from  him  ;  therefore  in  their  presence 
he  was  silent.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  acting  Secre- 
tary of  War  through  the  dismissal  of  Stanton,  I  was  his  guest ; 
on  coming  home,  he  said  to  me,  "  I  am  now  acting  Secretary  of 
War.  I  accepted  the  position  reluctantly,  and  would  not  have 
done  so  at  all,  were  it  not  to  protect  the  Treasury  against  unjust 
cotton  claims.  Were  an  unscrupulous  man  Secretary  of  War,  a 
mere  scratch  of  his  pen  could  defraud  the  country  of  many 
millions  of  dollars,  and  it  was  to  avoid  the  possible  appointment 
of  such  a  man  that  I  accepted  the  position."  At  a  subsequent 
time  he  said  that  quite  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  could 
have  been  stolen ;  a  case  which  he  had  examined  previously,  and 
knew  all  about  as  fraudulent,  had  come  before  him  so  admirably 
hedged  around  with  legal  testimony  that  it  could  not  have  failed 
to  pass ;  he  sent  for  the  applicant,  who,  upon  being  confronted 
with  proofs  that  were  undeniable,  was  forced  to  admit  that  the 
claim  was  fraudulent. 

In  October,  1867,  on  one  of  these  drives,  General  Grant  said 
that  he  believed  that  Mr.  Johnson  meditated  a  violent  subversion 
of  the  government,  and  to  that  end  Governor  Swann,  of  Mary- 
land, was  his  abettor.  Swann  was  organizing  his  militia,  and  had 
made  requisitions  for  field-artillery  to  which,  under  recent  laws, 
the  State  was  entitled,  but  he  had  "pigeon-holed"  this  requisition. 
He  had  sent  General  Emory  over  the  State,  and  was  well  in- 
formed as  to  the  organization ;  he  had  felt  disposed  to  write 
Governor  Swann  that  "  he  had  his  eye  upon  him,"  but  had  de- 
termined, on  a  full  consideration  of  the  situation,  to  write  nothing, 
but  simply  to  be  prepared. 


ORDERED  IN  COMMAND  OF  FLAGSHIP  PISCATAQUA.     429 

In  October  I  went  to  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  to  the 
flag-ship  Piscataqua,  bound  to  the  Asiatic  station.  A  mutual 
friend  of  Rear-Admiral  Rowan  and  myself  had  previously 
written  me  to  inquire  if  I  was  willing  to  be  ordered,  and  I  re- 
plied certainly,  that  I  did  not  think  an  admiral  should  go  beg- 
ging for  a  captain,  but  should  name  any  one  on  the  list  eligible, 
and  the  Department  should  order  him.  In  my  belief  "  belong- 
ing to  a  service"  implies  an  obligation  to  serve;  and  I  have 
always  endeavored  to  fulfil  this  obligation.  It  was,  however,  a 
disappointment  to  me,  as  I  had  hoped  to  get  command  of  a 
vessel  to  go  to  the  coast  of  Alaska,  to  ascertain  the  existence  of 
cod  and  halibut  fishing-grounds,  and  of  timber  suitable  for 
naval  purposes,  which  I  thought  from  my  reading  would  be 
found  of  especial  value  along  the  banks  of  the  Yukon  River. 
Even  then,  the  time  for  the  profitable  use  of  wooden  knees  in 
large  vessels  had  passed,  but  I  had  not  become  aware  of  the  fact. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  existence  of  immense  forests  of  yellow 
cedar  and  of  firs  of  several  species  was  not  known  to  me  or  the 
public.  These  forests  extend  from  Puget  Sound  to  the  north- 
west for  hundreds  of  miles,  covering  the  islands  of  an  immense 
archipelego,  quite  accessible  to  transportation,  and  without  res- 
ervation the  finest  timber  on  the  globe  for  utilization.  The 
yellow  cedar  grows  perhaps  to  larger  dimensions  on  Princess 
Charlotte's  Island  than  in  any  other  locality,  although  it  abounds 
in  immense  tracts  everywhere  north  of  Puget  Sound  in  the  region 
referred  to.  The  Indians  on  that  island  make  canoes  by  digging 
out  the  trunks  of  these  trees,  and  sell  them  to  other  Indians  on 
that  coast.  Such  a  canoe  may  be  seen  in  the  National  Museum 
in  Washington  fifty-nine  feet  in  length  and  of  eight  feet  beam; 
another  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at  the  Museum  near  Eighty- 
first  Street  and  the  elevated  road,  seventy  feet  in  length,  and  of 
ten  feet  beam.  The  wood  is  easily  worked,  is  very  durable,  does 
not  warp,  and  when  polished  is  as  beautiful  as  maple.  These 
timber  lands  will  prove  of  immense  value  to  Europe  as  well  as 
to  our  Atlantic  coast  as  soon  as  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  completed, 
an  event  much  nearer  at  hand  than  many  intelligent  persons  have 
any  idea  of.  The  economy  of  its  construction  and  maintenance 
is  so  satisfactory  that  were  its  traffic  to  be  confined  by  law  to  the 


430  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

products  of  the  Pacific  coast  lying  north  of  it,  and  to  supplying 
the  inhabitants  with  their  commercial  wants,  it  would  even  then 
be  amply  remunerative  to  the  constructors.  Although  I  had  to 
forego  a  personal  examination  of  this  region  twenty  years  ago, 
Commander  Tanner,  one  of  the  volunteer  navy  officers  already 
referred  to,  has  recently  examined  the  fishing-banks,  with  very 
satisfactory  results.  When  the  canal  is  once  opened  the  Banks 
of  Newfoundland,  the  coast  of  Labrador,  and  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
will  have  little  value  relatively,  and  will  sink  into  insignificance 
as  political  factors. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

In  Command  of  the  Flag-Ship  Piscataqua — Objectionable  Smoke-Stacks — 
Sail  for  New  York,  and  go  into  Dock — Proceed  to  Washington — Meet 
General  Grant — An  Unsatisfactory  State  of  Affairs — President  Johnson 
and  General  Grant — General  Grant  speaks  of  the  Ship-Canal — A  Drunken 
Hospital  Steward — Desertions — Kio  Janeiro — Mr.  James  Watson  Webb, 
U.S.  Minister — Consul  Monroe — Visit  to  Corcovado — Simon's  Bay — 
Description  of  the  Country  and  City — Meet  an  Old  Acquaintance,  and 
commit  a  Faux  Pas— Singapore — A  Buddhist — The  Eleventh  Command- 
ment— A  Prodigal  Son  treated  in  a  New  Way — Manila — Lightning  with- 
out Thunder — Cholera. 

As  I  have  already  stated,  much  to  my  distaste,  I  was  booked 
by  a  sense  of  obligation  to  go  to  the  Asiatic  Station,  where  I 
had  been  more  than  twenty  years  before,  as  navigator  of  the 
Vincennes.  There  are  few  officers  who  would  have  regarded  a 
cruise  in  Alaskan  waters  at  that  time  as  being  attractive  in  any 
degree,  or  as  preferable  to  duty  on  the  Asiatic  Station. 

The  Piscataqua  was  put  in  commission  October  24,  1867.  I 
had  previously  inspected  her,  and  had  called  the  attention  of  the 
Department  to  the  fact  that  she  had  "  standing"  smoke-stacks, 
instead  of  "  telescopic"  ones,  such  as  are  usual  on  board  of  ves- 
sels-of-war  having  a  ship  rig.  I  stated  that  this  precluded  the 
use  of  the  main-sail,  the  name  of  which  indicated  its  relative 
value ;  that  in  a  voyage  more  than  half  around  the  globe,  to 
reject  the  aid  of  the  winds  that  a  Creator  has  given  to  waft 


OBJECTIONABLE  SMOKE-STACKS.  431 

people  hither  and  thither,  and  to  use  steam  instead,  would  sub- 
ject us,  and  justly,  to  the  ridicule  of  the  naval  world,  and  I 
asked  why  the  smoke-stacks  should  not  be  made  telescopic,  like 
those  on  many  of  our  vessels.  I  was  told  that  the  difficulty  lay 
in  making  tight  joints  on  the  housing  parts.  I  replied,  "  Give 
the  vessel  telescopic  smoke-stacks,  and  I  will  make  the  joints 
tight  by  the  use  of  a  little  clay  and  a  canvas  band."  The  change 
was  made  in  rather  a  bungling  manner,  however,  the  smoke- 
stack when  housed  being  so  high  that  a  great  u  roach"  to  the 
main-sail  was  necessary.  I  leave  to  the  reader  to  find  out  what 
"  roach"  means,  if  the  object  does  not  explain  it.  A  sister  ship, 
the  Guerriere,  was  then  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  with  standing 
smoke-stacks,  the  wonder  of  the  naval  world,  doubtless ;  for  no 
nation  can  afford  to  reject  nature's  gifts, — and  we  had  just  then 
passed  through  a  civil  war  and  were  burdened  with  a  debt  of 
three  thousand  millions  of  dollars. 

In  the  employment  of  sails  without  the  use  of  steam  at  the 
same  time,  there  was  still  a  more  serious  defect,  which  I  did  not 
fully  appreciate  until  after  I  had  got  to  sea  and  made  calcula- 
tions, and  had  noted  the  retardation  due  to  having  to  turn  about 
one  hundred  feet  of  the  shaft  of  the  propeller,  or  "  screw,"  as 
our  English  friends  call  it,  which  might  just  as  well  have  been 
uncoupled  one  hundred  feet  farther  aft,  or  just  forward  of  the 
"  dead-wood"  at  the  stern. 

On  taking  command,  I  had  said  to  the  engineer,  "  It  seems  to 
me  that  this  will  be  a  great  retardation."  "  Very  little,"  replied 
my  scientific  friend,  "  when  the  vessel  has  headway  the  shaft 
will  turn,  and  after  the  revolutions  commence  it  will  turn  almost 
without  friction."  I  found  the  reverse  to  be  the  case,  however, 
and  thought  of  what  the  blocks  said  of  the  boatswain  when  they 
creaked.  At  a  time  when  there  were  no  friction  rollers  in  blocks, 
if  the  latter  were  not  carefully  oiled  there  was  great  friction,  and 
when  they  made  a  noise  the  sailors  would  say  they  were  "  damn- 
ing the  boatswain."  So  when  at  sea  the  vessel  made  a  frightful 
thumping  in  turning  over  one  hundred  feet  of  the  shaft,  and  I 
saw  that  she  made  only  seven  knots  when  otherwise  she  would 
have  made  ten,  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  the  thumps  were 
damning  the  engineer  who  had  made  it  necessary  to  turn  a  large 


432  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

part  of  the  shaft  that  could  have  been  kept  quiescent  by  un- 
coupling it  as  far  aft  as  possible. 

On  the  7th  of  November  we  sailed  for  New  York ;  when  at 
sea  in  a  fresh  breeze  I  tacked  ship,  an  evolution  which  every 
nautical  reader  will  understand.  If  the  reader  is  ignorant  in 
this  matter,  he  is  under  no  moral  obligation  to  learn.  A  short 
sermon  could  have  been  preached  while  the  vessel  was  "  in  stays," 
but  she  got  around,  despite  the  drag  of  her  propeller  and  her 
length. 

We  were  docked  in  New  York  for  some  purpose  not  now 
remembered,  and  during  that  time  I  was  ordered  to  Washington, 
to  take  part  in  closing  up  the  proceedings  of  the  Examining 
Board  for  the  admission  of  volunteer  officers  into  the  Navy. 
This  was  about  the  8th  of  December,  1867.  I  specify  the  date, 
as  what  follows  is  of  historic  interest.  I  met  General  Grant  on 
the  steps  of  the  War  Department, — he  was  still  acting  Secretary 
of  War, — and  he  invited  me  to  his  office.  In  our  conversation 
I  expressed  the  hope  that  things  were  in  a  more  satisfactory 
shape  than  when  I  had  last  seen  him.  "  On  the  contrary,"  he 
said,  "  I  do  not  know  what  we  are  coming  to.  A  few  days  ago 
I  had  a  visit  of  an  hour  or  more  from  President  Johnson,  Avho 
spoke  on  indifferent  subjects  until  just  before  leaving,  when  he 
said,  '  General,  there  is  one  question  in  which  I  feel  a  great  deal 
of  interest ;  and  that  is,  in  the  event  of  an  open  rupture  between 
myself  and  Congress,  on  which  side  you  will  be  found. '  I 
replied,  "  That  will  depend  entirely  upon  which  is  the  revolu- 
tionary party."  Of  course  I  regarded  this  as  strictly  confiden- 
tial, and  until  my  return  to  the  United  States,  sixteen  months 
later,  made  no  mention  of  it,  unless  in  a  vague  and  general 
way.  The  general  invited  me  to  dine  with  him  that  day,  and  I 
accepted  provided  I  should  be  permitted  to  leave  on  the  evening 
train.  After  dinner,  he  was  good  enough  to  drive  me  to  the 
depot,  and  on  our  way  thither  said  that  he  greatly  regretted  that 
thus  far  he  had  not  been  able  to  advance  the  progress  of  the 
Canal  question.  I  said  it  was  a  matter  of  no  moment,  as  I  felt 
sure  he  would  be  able  to  do  so  at  some  future  time. 

On  my  return  to  New  York  the  Pi  scat  aqua  was  ready  to 
leave  the  dry-dock,  and  as  soon  as  possible  we  dropped  down 


DESERTIONS.  433 

from  the  navy-yard  and  anchored  off  the  Battery,  ready  to  sail 
for  the  Asiatic  Station.  The  season  was  unusually  severe; 
about  the  13th  the  ice  running  in  the  river  was  so  heavy  as  to 
make  it  troublesome  for  vessels  at  anchor;  there  were  heavy 
snows,  and  the  thermometer  stood  at  15°  during  the  time.  A 
drunken  hospital  steward  gave  us  a  great  deal  of  trouble  through 
his  taking  a  large  quantity  of  laudanum  or  some  other  narcotic  : 
he  was  treated  on  board,  and  briskly  walked  up  and  down  the 
deck  between  two  attendants.  He  died  nevertheless,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  send  for  the  coroner  and  to  take  his  body  on  shore 
in  very  rough  weather.  The  next  day  we  dropped  down  to  the 
"  Horseshoe,"  to  avoid  the  ice,  and  lay  there  a  day  or  so  until 
an  easterly  gale  spent  itself.  Near  us  lay  some  European 
steamers  in  quarantine,  having  the  Asiatic  cholera  on  board  at  a 
season  of  the  year  when  we  suppose  ourselves  exempt  from  it, 
but  during  which  in  some  parts  of  Russia  it  then  prevailed  with 
great  fatality.  Before  leaving  the  anchorage  off  the  Battery  I 
had  been  directed  by  the  rear-admiral  to  discharge  an  apprentice 
from  confinement  at  the  solicitation  of  his  mother,  who  came  on 
board  for  the  purpose.  On  complying  with  this  order,  I  had 
all  the  men  in  confinement  brought  to  the  mast,  and  said  that 
we  were  about  going  to  sea,  and  that  all  of  them  would  be 
released  with  a  "  clean  bill,"  but  that  if  they  had  the  idea  that 
this  Avould  continue  during  the  cruise  they  would  find  them- 
selves wofully  deceived.  Just  before  we  got  under  way  off  the 
Battery,  I  sent  my  aide  on  shore  in  the  gig  for  the  pilot,  who 
had  not  come  down  at  the  hour  named.  I  told  the  aide  that  he 
was  sent  to  prevent  desertion,  as  that  would  make  a  further 
report  to  the  Department  necessary ;  he  was  therefore  not  to 
leave  the  boat,  but  if  he  could  manage  to  buy  the  morning's 
newspapers  for  me  I  should  be  glad  if  he  would  do  so.  Know- 
ing that  the  boat's  crew  had  always  been  sent  without  an  officer, 
he  thought  he  could  go  a  few  steps  from  the  landing,  where  he 
knew  there  was  a  news-stand,  without  risk  of  a  desertion ; 
nevertheless  two  of  the  crew  availed  themselves  of  the  oj)por- 
tunity  and  left.  On  the  facts  being  reported,  I  took  no  im- 
mediate action,  as  I  wished  to  spare  the  parents  of  my  young 
aide   a   disagreeable   suspense   in  relation  to  him.     After  the 

28 


434  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

pilot  was  discharged  I  suspended  him  from  duty.  A  week 
later  I  sent  for  him,  put  him  on  duty,  and  said  that  I  was  aware 
he  had  left  the  boat  to  oblige  me  personally,  which  he  had  no 
right  to  do,  in  disobedience  of  orders.  If  he  wished  to  continue 
as  my  aide,  I  had  no  objection ;  if  he  preferred  that  I  should 
select  another,  I  would  do  so :  he  preferred  continuing,  and 
remained  in  the  position  until  I  left  the  command  of  the 
ship. 

Our  voyage  to  Rio  Janeiro  was  without  incident.  The  Pis- 
cataqua  being  a  steamer  allowed  our  making  an  arc  of  a  great 
circle  as  nearly  as  possible,  not  fearing  to  fall  to  leeward  of 
Cape  San  Roque.  When  we  got  into  the  trades  we  hauled  fires, 
and  on  reaching  the  southern  limit  of  the  northeast  trades,  in 
about  8°  north  latitude,  we  steamed  across  the  calm-belt  of  one 
hundred  miles  more  or  less,  and  on  entering  the  southeast  trades 
hauled  our  fires  again,  making  the  voyage  of  more  than  five 
thousand  five  hundred  miles  in  thirty  days  with  a  very  small 
expenditure  of  fuel. 

After  a  voyage  of  a  month  nobody  could  fail  to  appreciate 
the  beauties  of  the  approach  to  Rio,  however  many  times  he 
might  have  visited  the  port.  They  are  exquisite  and  unequalled. 
At  Petropolis,  forty  miles  away,  on  a  mountain-top,  we  found 
our  minister,  James  Watson  Webb,  and  his  agreeable  family, 
and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  harbor,  known  as  Praya  Grande, 
Mr.  Monroe,  of  Ohio,  our  consul.  We  had  the  pleasure  of  a 
visit  on  board  from  him  and  his  family.  We  gave  the  men  a 
run  on  shore,  and  I  invited  the  "young  gentlemen,"  as  mid- 
shipmen were  styled,  whose  duties  would  permit,  to  accompany 
me  to  the  top  of  Corcovado,  a  peak  of  three  thousand  feet,  that 
overhangs  the  Botanic  Gardens,  in  the  beautiful  valley  and 
indentation  known  as  Botafogo.  Half  a  dozen  of  them  accepted 
my  invitation.  We  rode  horses  as  high  as  practicable,  perhaps 
within  three  hundred  feet  of  the  summit. 

The  horses  were  sent  back  under  care  of  keepers,  and  after 
spending  some  time  on  the  peak  we  scrambled  down  the  southern 
face,  which,  although  steep,  indeed  precipitous,  is  not  dangerous 
to  young  and  active  men,  as  most  of  us  were.  The  vegetation 
gave  ample  opportunity  to  hold  on  in  descending.     We  were 


VISIT  TO   CORCOVADO.  435 

soon  in  the  Botanic  Gardens,  where  I  saw  for  the  first  time 
what  is  known  in  British  India  as  the  "  jack-fruit"  tree.  It  has 
a  straight  clean  stem  to  a  height  of  thirty  feet  or  more,  and  fruit, 
shaped  much  like  a  pineapple,  of  forty  pounds'  weight,  hangs 
from  the  body  of  the  tree  by  a  short  strong  stem.  It  does  not 
grow  in  clusters  like  the  cocoanut,  but  half  a  dozen  or  more  are 
found  here  and  there,  hanging  to  the  body  of  the  tree,  in  various 
degrees  of  growth,  from  the  embryo  to  the  ripened  fruit.  It  is 
a  species  of  bread-fruit;  but  the  bread-fruit  (proper)  has  no 
seeds,  while  the  jack-fruit  has  a  large  number  of  good  size,  that 
are  boiled  and  eaten,  and  are  more  prized  than  the  pulpy  sub- 
stance that  is  eaten  as  a  substitute  for  bread.  I  have  not  tasted 
it,  as  I  have  the  bread-fruit  proper,  which  I  consider  very 
wholesome  and  agreeable,  and  a  good  substitute  for  bread. 
After  a  luncheon  at  one  of  the  cafes  that  abound  in  the  vicinity 
of  Rio,  where  they  serve  "Carnerona  omelette"  and  have  a 
delicious  light  red  wine  from  Portugal  that  is,  or  was  in  times 
past,  quite  pure, — in  this  being  unlike  the  fabricated  French 
wines, — we  took  a  stroll  along  the  broad  streets  flanked  by 
houses  with  ample  porticos  and  gay  with  tiles  of  many  colors, 
embowered  in  the  most  superb  verdure.  We  walked  down  to 
the  wharf,  where  we  took  a  small  steam  ferry-boat  with  side- 
wheels  and  feathering  paddles  of  English  make,  and  of  great 
speed,  and  were  soon  at  the  wharf  at  Rio.  The  streets  of  tiiat 
city  are  so  narrow  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  two  carriages 
to  pass  each  other,  and  consequently  all  the  corners  of  the 
streets  have  arrows  painted  upon  them,  showing  the  direction 
that  carriages  may  take.  It  was  a  city  of  abominable  smells 
and  neglected  hygiene,  which  has  paid  the  inevitable  penalty,  in 
the  establishment  of  deadly  fevers  of  many  types  so  related  and 
yet  so  varied  as  to  allow  physicians  little  opportunity  to  diagnose 
the  disease  before  the  patient  is  dead.  Fifty  years  ago  the 
yellow  fever  was  unknown  in  Rio ;  now  it  is  rarely  absent ;  and 
in  pernicious  and  other  fevers  the  city  seems  within  the  past 
ten  years  to  have  become  almost  as  much  a  pest-hole  as  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  it  was  compara- 
tively healthy,  but  a  fortnight  was  too  long  to  stay,  and  we  were 
soon  again  at  sea,  to  touch  at  Simon's  Bay,  on  the  south  side 


436  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  of  which  I  made  mention  in  my 
account  of  the  cruise  of  the  Vincennes. 

The  South  Atlantic,  both  within  the  region  of  the  trades  and 
up  to  the  fortieth  degree  of  south  latitude,  is  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  seas  that  I  have  visited.  Calms  are  rare  aud  of  short 
duration,  the  temperature  is  delightful,  and  although  rains  and 
mists  are  found  near  the  island  of  Tristan  d'Acunha,  heavy 
weather  and  squalls  are  infrequent.  We  sighted  this  island, 
where,  years  ago,  whale-ships  touched  to  get  potatoes  and  other 
vegetables.  It  has  no  harbor,  but  the  water  is  usually  smooth 
under  its  lee.  After  a  pleasant  run  of  ten  days  almost  entirely 
under  sail,  we  anchored  in  Simon's  Bay.  It  is  a  bight  in  a  sandy 
coast,  without  a  tree  in  sight,  but  the  promontory  of  the  cape, 
five  thousand  feet  in  height,  and  ranges  of  hills  in  the  distance, 
relieve  the  appearance  of  sterility.  All  along  the  beach  are  the 
bones  of  whales  in  numbers,  and  years  ago  the  "  Golden  Farmer," 
as  he  styled  himself,  had  his  fences  made  of  the  huge  ribs  of 
whales.  Why  he  had  a  fence  I  could  not  see ;  there  was  no 
living  beast  to  fence  in  or  out.  Why  he  called  himself  a 
"  farmer,"  nobody  could  tell,  as  there  was  no  arable  land  in  sight. 
He  had  a  sign  in  doggerel  in  alternating  lines  in  four  languages, 
informing  the  passers-by  between  Cape  Town  and  Simon's  Bay 
that  he  had  all  kinds  of  liquor  for  sale ;  and  selling  them  was 
all  the  Golden  Farmer  did. 

After  a  few  days  in  port,  and  getting  things  in  order,  I  sent 
word  to  the  midshipmen  that  the  next  day  I  intended  visiting 
the  Constantia  vineyards,  starting  from  the  vessel  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  that  I  would  be  pleased  to  have  any  of  them  go  with 
me  who  had  no  duties.  Half  a  dozen  of  them  accepted  my 
invitation.  After  getting  on  shore  we  were  all  fairly  mounted  : 
the  horses  being  brought  in  from  a  wide  region  of  undefined 
limits  where  they  were  bred.  They  were  well  built  and  kept  in 
good  condition.  Some  two  miles  out  we  had  to  cross  a  broad 
sand-plain  over  which  the  tide  ebbed  and  flowed,  and  the 
discharge  of  a  considerable  water-shed,  but  the  rainfall  is  in- 
considerable in  that  region.  We  were  told  that  there  were  quick- 
sands on  it  that  were  dangerous,  but  there  was  nothing  to  mark 
them.     After  passing  this  sandy  plain  the  road  leads  over  some 


MEET  AN  OLD  ACQUAINTANCE.  437 

rocky  hills  with  steep  slopes,  and  winds  along  into  the  interior 
on  the  way  to  Cape  Town.  In  daytime  the  road  is  not  danger- 
ous, but  after  night  it  is  not  safe.  The  ride  was  some  fifteen  or 
eighteen  miles,  and  we  arrived  at  the  vineyards  about  two  o'clock. 
Soon  after  sending  in  my  card,  I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  a  fine- 
looking  young  lady  enter  the  room.  With  the  appreciation  of 
the  fair  sex  which  had  distinguished  me  long  ago,  I  advanced 
and  told  her  that  I  had  had  the  pleasure  of  her  acquaintance 
twenty  years  before,  when  the  Vincennes  was  homeward  bound 
from  the  coast  of  China.  She  received  this  intended  compli- 
ment somewhat  disdainfully,  and  remarked  that  perhaps  I  had 
met  some  of  her  elder  sisters  at  that  time.  I  did  my  best  to 
apologize  for  my  stupidity,  but  I  felt  that  my  attempt  to  recog- 
nize her  as  an  old  and  long-cherished  acquaintance  had  met  with 
such  disfavor  that  even  the  introduction  of  my  half-dozen  proteges 
did  not  free  me  from  her  resentment.  We  were  taken  to  the 
vineyard  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  house,  and  to  the  wine-cellar, 
and  two  hours  before  sunset  we  were  ready  to  set  out,  in  time  to 
pass  the  dangerous  part  of  the  road  and  the  quicksands  before 
dark.  The  young  lady,  however,  insisted  that  we  should  stay 
to  dine, — that  dinner  would  soon  be  on  the  table ;  and  of  course 
we  stayed.  The  sun  was  near  the  horizon  before  we  left,  and  no 
moon  to  light  us  on  our  way.  I  had  a  half  suspicion  that  the 
young  lady  revenged  herself  in  this  manner,  and  that  she  may 
have  felt  a  shade  of  disappointment  when  there  was  no  news  of 
any  mishap  to  the  leader  of  the  party.  Since  that  time  I  have 
never  told  a  young  lady  that  I  knew  her  twenty  years  before, — 
which  shows  that  I  was  not  even  then  too  old  to  learn  some  things. 
We  passed  along  over  the  rough  road,  over  the  treacherous  quick- 
sand, and  then  on  board  in  half  a  gale  of  wind,  in  a  rough  sea, 
without  damage.  Old  seamen  long  ago  chanted,  "  There's  a 
sweet  little  cherub  that  sits  up  aloft/' — a  sentiment  that  is  now 
no  longer  heard,  or  believed  in, — except  by  a  few  of  the  ancients. 
I  gave  the  crew  liberty  to  go  on  shore,  and,  although  all  the 
luxuries  known  to  seamen  were  to  be  found  at  Simon's  Bay, 
some  of  them  drifted  over  to  Cape  Town,  and  I  had  to  get  them 
back  with  some  little  delay,  and  a  cost  of  two  pounds  per  man, — 
which  they  paid.     I  had  an  old  quarter-gunner,  a  shipmate  on 


438  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

board  of  the  Bainbridge,  the  ablest  man  that  I  ever  came  across 
in  getting  "  the  weather-gage"  when  it  was  a  question  of  liquor 
and  of  breaking  liberty.  After  thirty  hours  on  shore,  he  would 
come  on  board,  and,  as  is  usual  when  the  conditions  warrant, 
would  be  marked  "  clean  and  sober."  He  would  then  say,  "  I 
have  not  come  off  to  stay,  but  only  to  briug  these  things  off 
that  I  have  bought ;  my  liberty  is  not  out  until  sunset,"  and  the 
officer  of  the  deck  would  let  him  leave  the  vessel  a^ain  :  he 
would  then  get  drunk  and  stay  on  shore  until  he  was  apprehended 
and  brought  off.  He  had  done  this  to  my  knowledge  on  several 
occasions,  and  in  consequence  I  told  the  executive  officer  that 
when  English  came  off  he  was  not  to  allow  him  to  go  on  shore 
again.  This  was  either  forgotten  or  not  carried  out,  and  the 
neglect  of  it  cost  the  man  his  life.  He  went  on  shore  again, 
got  drunk,  stayed  over  his  liberty,  and  had  tumbled  off  a  high 
stoop  and  bruised  himself  considerably,  which  resulted  in  ery- 
sipelas, that  killed  him  before  we  reached  Java  Head.  I  buried 
him  at  sea,  off  the  island  of  Krakatao,  which  a  few  years  ago 
was  rent  in  twain  by  a  volcanic  explosion. 

After  nearly  a  fortnight  in  port,  we  sailed,  hoping  to  find 
the  "  brave  west  winds"  for  which  the  high  latitudes  of  the 
Indian  Ocean  give  such  promise.  They  did  not  come,  and, 
although  we  got  well  south,  we  had  actually  head-winds  and 
calms,  and  for  several  days  when  south  of  the  Mauritius  an 
exceptionally  high  barometer.  At  last  we  had  a  "  brave  west 
wind"  and  an  enormous  sea :  the  wind  lasted  twelve  hours,  and 
then  we  had  a  calm  with  a  heavy  sea,  very  distressing  to  a 
vessel  with  long  spars.  On  reaching  port  we  learned  that  one 
of  the  severest  hurricanes  that  had  been  known  for  years  on  the 
Mauritius  had  prevailed  over  that  island  for  several  days,  blow- 
ing down  houses  and  even  stone  fences.  Usually  in  other  seas 
the  centre  of  a  storm  progresses  from  ten  to  thirty  miles  per 
hour,  in  that  manner  changing  the  direction  of  the  wTind  and 
lessening  the  duration  of  the  gale.  We  had  crossed  just  ahead 
of  it  when  it  had  turned  to  the  south,  to  curve  to  the  eastward 
farther  along  and  pursue  its  way  towards  Kerguelen's  Land. 
In  consequence  of  these  head-winds  we  were  forty-four  days  in 
reaching  Singapore,  ten  of  which  were  passed  after  we  entered 


SINGAPORE.  439 

Anjier  Straits.  We  anchored  at  Anjier  Point ;  it  was  gratifying 
to  learn  that  a  large  filter  had  been  established  to  give  vessels 
pure  water,  instead  of  the  foul  water  that  we  had  got  there  on 
board  of  the  Vincennes  that  had  led  to  our  frightful  loss  of  life 
from  dysentery.  The  supply  of  monkeys,  of  green  turtle,  and 
of  cocoanuts  seemed  undiminished,  and  we  obtained  here  that 
most  delicious  of  fruits,  the  mangosteen ;  it  is  fouud  in  perfec- 
tion only  in  a  few  localities  on  the  globe.  After  entering  we 
were  in  an  archipelago  all  the  way  to  Singapore,  with  little 
depth  of  water,  rarely  over  twenty  fathoms.  The  currents  are 
variable  and  strong,  depending  on  winds  far  away,  and  there 
are  many  hidden  dangers  in  coral-patches.  The  water  is  usually 
so  clear  that  by  keeping  a  man  at  the  topmast-head  coral-patches 
and  reefs  can  be  seen  and  avoided.  We  anchored  after  night 
when  we  wished  to  do  so,  and  found  the  voyage  very  pleasant. 

Singapore  is  on  a  perfectly  flat  surface ;  the  heat  is  consider- 
able, but  from  the  abundance  of  the  vegetation  and  the  even 
temperature  all  the  year  round  it  is  as  healthy  as  any  tropical 
region  known  to  me.  The  most  delicious  fruits  of  the  tropics 
are  found  here  in  abundance,  and  the  foreign  population  is 
hospitable  and  intelligent.  We  had  the  pleasure  of  making  the 
acquaintance  of  the  officers  of  the  garrison  and  of  many  British 
navy  officers  attached  to  the  several  vessels  in  the  harbor.  A 
very  agreeable  acquaintance  was  known  to  us  as  Whampoa, 
probably  because  he  came  from  that  town,  on  the  Canton  River, 
thirteen  miles  below  the  city  of  Canton.  He  was  wealthy  for  a 
small  community,  and  had  such  a  fine  collection  of  trees  in  a 
large  ground  that  the  city  bought  it  from  him  for  the  use  of  the 
public.  He  then  located  two  miles  from  the  town,  on  a  very 
rich  alluvium  with  several  deep  ditches  and  canals  running 
through  it  and  small  buildings  spanning  them.  In  the  canals 
were  numbers  of  fish  of  various  kinds.  He  took  me  to  see  his 
animals, — among  them  an  enormous  boar  with  his  tusks  bent 
around  almost  in  a  circle,  an  evidence  of  great  age.  I  remarked 
that  we  thought  it  more  economical  to  kill  a  hog  before  he  was 
two  years  old,  upon  which  he  made  me  an  amiable  bow.  The 
pig-pens  were  as  clean  as  possible ;  they  had  a  floor  of  small 
trees,  and  were  partly  over  the  water,  and  a  Chinaman  was  there 


440  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

to  wait  on  the  pigs,  monkeys,  and  an  enormous  baboon,  who 
looked  at  us  gravely  as  we  passed  in  review  a  considerable 
number  of  beasts,  birds,  and  fishes,  the  latter  brought  to  the 
surface  by  throwing  food  that  floated  on  the  top  of  the  water. 
I  can  conceive  the  feeling  of  pity  that  Whampoa  probably  felt 
towards  his  visitor  at  my  remark  that  a  hog  should  not  be 
allowed  to  reach  the  age  of  two  years,  when  these  animals  were 
maintained  in  comfort  as  a  token  of  gratitude  to  his  Creator  for 
the'  blessings  which  he  and  his  family  enjoyed.  He  was  a 
Buddhist,  and  the  Buddhists'  eleventh  commandment  is  that 
they  must  not  harm  the  animal  creation ;  his  peace-offering  was 
in  the  care  of  these  animals.  I  was  taken  into  his  house,  and 
cold  tea  without  sugar  and  some  sweetmeats  were  brought  in, 
and  his  nice  little  children  neatly  dressed  were  presented  to  me, 
but  he  did  not  introduce  the  ladies  of  his  household.  He  had 
a  son,  as  I  learned  afterwards,  whom  he  had  educated  near 
Boston,  Avho  knew  so  much  that  he  cut  off  his  "  pig-tail"  and 
put  on  our  clothing,  expecting  when  he  reached  his  father  to 
produce  a  stunning  effect, — as  he  did,  but  it  was  in  the  nature 
of  a  recoil.  He  was  put  in  a  state  of  banishment  and  penance 
until  his  "  pig-tail"  grew,  and  when  that  was  accomplished  he 
appeared  before  his  father  with  regulation  bamboo  splits  an  inch 
in  length  lashed  to  his  finger-nails  to  protect  them  from  being 
broken,  and  clothed  in  out-and-out  Chinese  toggery.  The  young 
man  promised  to  sin  no  more,  and  he  has  kept  his  promise, 
although  the  father  has  been  buried  for  more  than  ten  years. 

After  a  very  agreeable  ten  days  in  port,  we  left  for  Manila 
on  the  last  day  of  April.  The  sea  was  quite  calm  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  voyage,  and  the  water  at  a  temperature  of 
eighty-seven  degrees,  which  made  everything  as  hot  as  Tophet. 
A  day  or  two  out  the  admiral  directed  me  to  have  the  men 
exercised  at  sending  up  and  down  spars,  which  was  extremely 
fatiguing.  After  the  day's  exercise  I  went  to  him  and  said  that 
I  had  some  experience  in  those  waters,  and  that  men  could  not 
exert  themselves  in  such  a  temperature  without  a  large  sick-list 
and  loss  of  life.  He  said  that  the  men  needed  training  of  that 
kind.  I  answered  that  it  could  be  given  them  when  we  got  to 
Japan,  where  they  could  exert  themselves  without  detriment, 


CHOLERA.  441 

just  as  on  our  own  coast,  and  I  hoped  he  would  be  good  enough 
to  defer  the  exercises  until  the  conditions  should  be  more  favor- 
able, to  which  he  assented. 

A  low  rate  of  speed  brought  us  to  Manila  in  ten  days ;  not 
only  are  the  harbor  and  its  approaches  beautiful,  but  also  the 
vast  inclined  plane  lying  to  the  westward,  cultivated  with  care, 
and  as  variegated  as  a  rich  carpet.  The  mountain-peaks,  at 
considerable  distances  apart,  in  the  daytime  are  hidden  by  clouds, 
but  after  night  the  clouds  disappear,  and  the  peaks  do  not 
become  obscured  usually  before  eight  o'clock.  I  was  very  much 
interested  in  the  electric  displays  of  nightly  occurrence ;  the 
lightning  appeared  to  leap  from  peak  to  peak,  and  there  was  no 
sound  of  thunder.  It  did  not  occur  to  me  then  that  perhaps 
the  great  elevation  of  these  peaks  prevented  the  sound  from 
coming  down  into  an  atmosphere  of  much  greater  density. 
Sound  is  known  to  follow  the  lines  of  least  resistance.  Perhaps, 
indeed,  the  lightning  seen  was  simply  a  reflection  from  invisible 
masses  of  clouds. 

We  had  been  in  port  only  four  days  when  we  had  eighteen 
cases  of  cholera  under  treatment ;  there  was  but  one  thin^  to  do, 
and  that  was  to  get  under  way  and  go  to  sea.  The  symptoms 
are  the  same  as  those  of  Asiatic  cholera,  and  so  is  the  treatment, 
and  it  is  hardly  less  fatal,  if  people  remain  in  port,  than  Asiatic 
cholera;  nevertheless  there  is  a  marked  difference, — that  it  is 
not  propagated  by  contact  or  clothing,  as  is  the  Asiatic  cholera. 
Through  our  prompt  action  all  our  patients  recovered,  although 
there  was  every  appearance  of  dying  with  Chaplain  Bittinger 
and  several  of  our  men.  Many  of  them  would  doubtless  have 
died  had  we  not  gone  to  sea ;  but  with  the  gun-deck  ports  open, 
and  under  favorable  conditions  and  careful  treatment,  they  all 
recovered.  Within  the  past  ten  years  Manila  had  in  one  year 
three  inflictions, — the  true  Asiatic  cholera,  which  raged  with 
extreme  fatality,  an  earthquake  that  shook  down  many  of  the 
low  buildings,  and  a  hurricane  that  did  much  damage. 

It  is  worth  while  to  remark  that  of  the  industry  on  the 
Philippine  Islands  much  the  greater  part  is  Chinese,  and  the 
same  is  the  case  at  Singapore,  and  indeed  pretty  much  through- 
out that  very  fruitful  region  known  as  the  Indian  Archipelago. 


442  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Arrival  at  Hong-Kong- -Changes  in  Twenty-One  Years — Amoy — Nagasaki 
— Description  of  the  City — Measure  Height  of  Island — Yokohama — A 
Biting  Stallion — Tattooing — Take  Admiral  Kowan  on  the  Piscataqua  to 
visit  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg,  the  American  Minister — Description  of  the 
Capital  City — A  Visit  from  Admiral  Ennomotto,  of  the  Japanese  Navy — 
Something  of  the  Admiral's  Subsequent  History — Yokohama — Hiogo — 
Admiral  C.  H.  Bell — Mr.  Consul  Mangum — A  Doubtful  Compliment  as 
to  One's  Age — Nagasaki — Shanghai — The  Foreign  Merchants — Dining 
with  the  Governor  of  the  Province — Description  of  the  Dinner. 

A  pleasant  run  of  four  days  under  low  steam-power  brought 
us  to  the  harbor  of  Hong-Kong,  filled  with  shipping,  and  the 
mountain-side  covered  with  houses.  It  had  been  more  than 
twenty-one  years  since  I  was  there,  and  the  transformation 
from  hastily-erected  sheds  for  traffic  and  indifferently-built 
houses  to  large  well-built  warehouses  and  elegant  residences, 
covering  a  water-front  of  two  miles  and  extending  up  the  steep 
hill-side  to  an  elevation  of  more  than  twelve  hundred  feet,  was 
very  striking.  The  outlines  of  the  summit  ridge  were  still  un- 
broken, peak  Victoria  having  only  a  signal-tower  upon  it,  with 
a  small  house  for  the  officer's  attendants.  On  my  first  visit  it 
would  have  been  difficult  to  get  up,  but  fair  roads,  and  steps  at 
various  points,  had  been  made,  so  that,  barring  the  exertion  inci- 
dent to  climbing,  the  road  was  quite  convenient.  At  that  time 
the  elevation  was  not  known  to  the  public,  or  at  least  I  could 
not  obtain  it  through  inquiry,  and  I  therefore  determined  to 
calculate  it  trigonometrically,  and  to  test  the  accuracy  of  an 
aneroid  by  comparing  it  with  that  measurement.  I  turn  to  my 
book  and  give  the  results :  from  Channel  Rooks  measured  as 
a  base  of  5115  yards,  the  top  of  signal-house  was  1861  feet. 
From  nearest  corner  of  Kowloon  Fort,  taken  as  a  base  of  3465 
yards,  1846  feet.  Two  aneroid  measurements  agreed-^of  course 
by  accident — to  within  two  feet,  and  gave  1855  feet.  An  aneroid 
is  not  a  toy,  and  1  would  say  that  every  gentleman  of  leisure 
not  pinched   financially  might   buy  one  and   not  only  amuse 


CHANGES  IN  TWENTY-ONE  YEARS.  443 

himself  but  obtain  satisfactory  results  in  measuring  heights. 
In  a  careful  reading  of  my  aneroid  at  the  foot  and  the  upper 
platform  of  the  Washington  Monument  in  Washington  City,  the 
result  was  five  feet  short  of  the  exact  height. 

On  my  last  ascent  to  peak  Victoria  in  company  with  my  aide, 
we  found  a  large  number  of  men — perhaps  one  hundred — follow- 
ing us  up  the  mountain-side  in  great  haste.  We  were  near  the 
head  of  the  depression  that  leads  over  to  the  workshops  at  Aber- 
deen when  they  overtook  us.  A  gentleman  told  me  if  I  did  not 
wish  to  see  a  horrible  sight  I  would  better  not  go  on.  On  in- 
quiry I  was  told  that  an  English  officer  had  been  murdered  only 
half  an  hour  before,  at  one  o'clock,  on  an  open  road  on  the  moun- 
tain-top, on  a  great  thoroughfare,  where  hundreds  of  persons 
passed  daily.  The  murderers  were  never  caught  j  they  got  no 
booty  except  their  victim's  watch,  and  the  chain,  which  was 
broken,  leaving  the  bar  at  its  end  within  his  vest.  The  officer 
was  a  major;  he  had  with  him  a  very  fierce  bull-dog,  which  he 
doubtless  thought  ample  protection,  and  so  he  proved  so  far  as 
the  robbery  of  his  body  was  concerned,  the  few  shillings  in  his 
pockets  being  undisturbed  from  the  guard  the  dog  kept  over  his 
dead  master. 

Some  years  earlier,  the  number  of  persons  that  disappeared 
after  being  taken  into  boats  to  reach  their  vessels  after  night 
became  so  great  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  establish  a  very 
strict  system  of  responsibility.  The  boats  before  had  been 
licensed,  but  that  did  not  serve ;  it  was  necessary  for  the  police- 
man to  call  a  particular  number  in,  to  see  that  the  passenger  got 
into  the  boat,  and  to  hand  a  paper  to  the  boatman  which  had  to 
be  signed  by  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  ship,  acknowledging  the 
safe  arrival  of  the  passenger ;  and  this  had  to  be  returned  to  the 
policeman.  There  is  a  marked  contrast  in  the  character  of  the 
Japanese  and  that  of  the  Chinese  in  regard  to  the  instincts  of 
humanity. 

After  a  stay  of  more  than  three  weeks  the  Piscataqua  left 
Hong-Kong  for  Amoy,  a  short  run  of  a  day.  We  barely  looked 
in  for  two  days ;  what  will  be  written  of  that  city  will  appear  in 
the  account  of  a  later  visit.  When  we  left,  it  was  for  Nagasaki, 
a  port  which  I  had  never  visited,  and  one  of  the  most  pictur- 


444  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

esque  harbors  on  the  globe.  Proceeding  under  low  steam  and 
sail,  we  reached  the  offing  on  the  18th.  It  was  blowing  very 
fresh  and  squally,  but  I  had  been  too  long  on  the  Coast  Survey 
to  be  timid  about  the  approach.  There  was  a  heavy  press  of 
sail  on  the  ship  as  we  stood  in  with  the  land,  with  a  "  soldier's 
wind," — that  is,  a  wind  in  which  a  vessel  may  head  the  reverse 
course  without  difficulty.  We  soon  had  a  pilot  alongside,  and 
in  we  went  as  fast  as  breeze  and  steam  could  carry  us. 

The  admiral  was  anxious  to  reach  Yokohama  at  an  early  day, 
which  accounts  for  our  brief  stay  of  two  days.  In  the  voyage 
to  Yokohama  we  kept  so  near  the  coast  that  the  bays  and  prom- 
ontories and  mountain-ranges  were  within  our  field  of  vision 
without  the  aid  of  glasses.  As  we  ran  along  under  a  fresh 
breeze,  I  saw  a  very  beautiful  small  rocky  island  to  seaward  of 
us,  the  name  of  which  I  do  not  now  recall,  and  I  said  to  an 
officer,  "  Mr.  B.,  be  good  enough  to  measure  the  height  of  that 
island."  Although  a  graduate  of  the  Naval  Academy,  he  looked 
bewildered.  I  thereupon  called  my  aide  to  my  assistance,  and, 
getting  my  sextant,  we  took  compass  bearings  and  speed,  and 
did  the  work  ourselves.  My  aide  greatly  enjoyed  the  perplexity 
of  the  officer,  who  was  very  desirous  of  finding  out  our  results. 
I  kept  a  chronometer  in  the  cabin  for  the  benefit  of  the  midship- 
men and  myself,  and  when  it  wras  a  question  of  verifying  the 
position  of  the  vessel  I  relieved  the  navigator  from  all  fear  of 
an  error  in  his  reckoning,  which  any  one  observer  is  liable  to 
make.  My  sextant  was  always  at  the  service  of  young  officers, 
and  my  assistance,  if  desired,  in  making  time  comparisons  or 
otherwise.  Thus  they  had  an  opportunity  of  becoming  practical 
navigators,  and  they  greatly  profited  by  it.  As  we  approached 
Yedo  Bay  the  wind  was  quite  strong,  and  this  increased  the 
strength  of  the  "  Kuro-Siwo,"  or  black  water,  corresponding  to 
our  Gulf  Stream.  I  thought  it  probable  that  there  would  be  a 
great  increase  of  the  current,  and  noted  a  danger,  in  that  case, 
of  the  "  Redfield  rocks."  I  was  on  deck  from  two  a.m.  until 
daylight,  and  kept  a  bright  lookout  for  them  ;  although  the 
sea  was  very  rough,  I  suppose  they  would  have  been  seen  and 
avoided  had  they  appeared  immediately  in  our  course.  I  knew 
afterwards,  on  sighting  Green  Island,  that  we  had  passed  very 


YOKOHAMA.  445 

near  them.  The  barometer  was  very  low,  full  an  inch  below 
the  normal,  and  with  the  wind  on  the  quarter  we  carried  sail  so 
heavily  that  the  mizzen-topsail  sheets  parted, — a  fact  which  will 
indicate  to  a  seaman  that  the  wind  was  strong.  The  centre  of 
the  typhoon,  as  cyclones  are  called  in  those  parts,  did  not  pass 
over  us,  and  we  made  our  way  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an 
hour  up  to  the  anchorage  of  Yokohama,  some  twenty  miles  above 
where  the  Columbus  and  Vinceunes  anchored  when  they  visited 
Japan  in  July,  1846. 

Yokohama  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  visit  of  Commodore 
Perry  to  this  part  of  the  bay  eight  years  after  the  visit  of  the 
Columbus  aud  Vincennes.  Perry  was  an  officer  of  rare  merit, 
whose  acts  had  more  to  do  with  the  present  relations  of  the 
Japanese  and,  incidentally,  of  the  Chinese,  with  European  nations 
than  diplomacy  and  all  other  causes  combined.  I  only  mention 
this  fact  so  that  the  reader,  if  he  chooses,  may  look  up  Perry's 
Expedition  to  Japan,  to  be  found  in  all  libraries  of  note.  In 
this  expedition,  too,  he  did  more  to  educate  our  navy  men  afloat 
than  any  school  of  practice  known  to  me. 

The  flat  part  of  Yokohama  was  an  extensive  rice-field,  very 
little  above  the  level  of  the  wide  bay  upon  which  it  is  situ- 
ated, twenty  miles  below  the  great  city  of  Yedo  of  that  day, 
now  known  as  Tokio.  The  Japanese  have  a  singular  habit  of 
changing  the  names  of  cities, — the  object,  as  I  understand  it, 
being  to  mark  some  epoch  or  changed  condition.  So  early  as 
July,  1868,  when  we  arrived,  the  tops  of  the  spurs  of  hills  a  mile 
in  the  interior  and  three  hundred  feet  in  height  were  covered  with 
comfortable  buildings  occupied  by  merchants  of  all  European 
nationalities,  especially  British  and  German.  A  considerable 
amount  of  grading  had  been  done  at  various  points  to  make 
broad  and  excellent  roads  to  the  hill-tops,  and  there  was  also  a 
fine  drive  of  some  miles  around,  one  part  of  the  road  overlooking 
"Mississippi  Bay,"  a  large  shoal  indentation  below  Yokohama. 
The  whole  country,  far  and  near,  was  broken  into  low  grounds 
of  inconsiderable  extent,  with  ranges  of  mountains  varying  in 
elevation  from  hundreds  to  thousands  of  feet.  The  peak  of  the 
volcano  of  Fusiyama,  almost  a  perfect  cone,  fifty  miles  distant, 
and  partly  covered  with  snow  for  a  considerable  part  of  the 


446  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

year,  was  a  beautiful  feature  in  the  landscape.  The  aspect  of 
the  country  was  that  of  an  almost  unbroken  woodland,  with 
here  and  there  a  field  in  cultivation.  The  different  varieties  of 
the  bamboo  give  the  appearance  of  woodlands,  and  cover  all  the 
country  not  cultivated  or  already  wooded.  There  are  in  Japan 
and  China  some  fifty  or  sixty  varieties ;  what  is  known  in  Japan 
as  the  "  mountain  bamboo"  grows  to  a  diameter  of  eight  inches, 
and  some  sixty  or  seventy  feet  in  height.  Growing  in  clusters 
of  twenty  or  more  stems,  beautifully  green  and  waving  grace- 
fully in  the  breeze,  the  effect  of  the  bamboo  on  the  landscape  is 
charming.  The  shoots  come  out  of  the  ground  like  huge  pikes, 
and  from  the  time  that  they  are  three  feet  in  height,  until  they 
are  forty,  the  daily  growth  is  marvellous, — probably  not  less 
than  two  feet  in  every  twenty-four  hours  for  a  fortnight.  In 
Maryland  a  smaller  variety  has  grown,  under  my  own  observa- 
tion, one  foot  per  day  for  ten  consecutive  days ;  it  attains  a 
height  of  only  twenty  feet  in  this  locality,  which  is  hot  enough 
for  it  in  summer,  but  has  not  the  dampness  necessary  to  give  it 
growth.  In  the  escarpments  near  Yokohama  I  observed  masses 
of  black  earth  and  roots  of  bamboo  ten  feet  in  depth,  the  accu- 
mulations, doubtless,  of  centuries. 

When  at  Yokohama  an  appreciative  countryman  gave  me  the 
use  of  a  small,  well-built  bay  stallion,  which  would  hardly  weigh 
more  than  five  hundred  pounds,  and  was  not  more  than  thirteen 
hands  high, — almost  a  pony,  in  fact,  but  not  such  as  one  would 
wish  to  put  a  child  upon.  I  found  him  disposed  to  bite,  kick, 
and  inflict  any  other  possible  injury  to  every  human  being  who 
came  near  him.  He  was  hard-mouthed,  and  wished  to  go  at  a 
breakneck  pace,  and  that  I  indulged  him  in,  so  that  we  got  along 
very  well  together.  He  was  sure-footed,  and  would  walk  over 
a  narrow  plank  with  a  firm  step.  One  day  when  I  was  riding 
with  Robeson,  now  a  captain  in  the  navy,  the  horse  thought  his 
chance  was  fair  to  seize  Robeson  by  the  leg  ;  I  felt  the  animal's 
thrust,  and  restrained  him.  Robeson  seeing  his  nose  quite  near, 
gave  him  a  blow  with  a  heavy  riding-whip,  which  he  did  not 
relish.  On  another  occasion,  being  ridden  by  another  officer  who 
was  careless,  he  seized  Dr.  Rhoades  of  the  navy  by  the  thigh, 
reared,  and  endeavored  to  throw  him,  and  only  after  a  vigorous 


TA  TTOOINO.  447 

beating  did  he  let  go.  Rhoades  was  taken  to  a  tea-house,  and 
afterwards  carried  on  board  ship,  where  he  was  confined  to  his 
bed  for  weeks.  I  learned  afterwards  that  this  vicious  beast  had 
killed  two  "  bettos"  In  Japan  none  but  men  of  high  rank  ride 
on  horseback,  and  a  betto,  or  attendant  of  the  horse,  always 
accompanies  the  rider  on  foot,  and  gets  over  the  ground  as  rapidly 
as  any  professional  runner.  Indeed,  even  in  that  hilly  country 
he  will  cover  his  fifty  or  sixty  miles  a  day  with  ease,  keeping  just 
a  little  behind  the  horse  to  care  for  him  whenever  the  rider 
wishes  his  services.  The  betto  has  a  singularly  light  suit  of 
clothing  :  it  consists  of  a  good  strong  bamboo  hat,  which  protects 
his  head  from  the  sun  and  rain  ;  and  a  garment  without  sleeves, 
that  falls  down  to  somewhat  above  his  knees  and  is  confined  around 
his  body  by  a  girdle.  His  arms  and  legs  are  elaborately  tattooed 
by  a  skilful  artist,  at  a  cost  of  say  sixty  or  more  dollars,  a  large 
sum  where  a  laborer's  daily  pay  does  not  exceed  ten  cents.  In 
one  sense  this  clothing  is  economical ;  it  will  last  as  long  as  the 
man  does,  and  will  never  become  ragged  or  dilapidated.  To  my 
personal  knowledge,  tattooing  inflicts  great  pain ;  but  we  all 
know  that  delicate  ladies  will  endure  any  amount  of  pain  if 
they  have  the  idea  that  it  will  make  them  look  even  a  little 
prettier,  and  why  should  not  the  betto?  I  must  not  omit  to 
mention  his  sandals,  which  are  made  of  straw ;  a  thong  comes 
up  between  his  big  toe  and  the  next  one,  and  is  tied  to  two  other 
thongs  that  hold  the  heel  and  the  sandal  firmly  to  the  foot.  The 
dress  is  light  and  airy,  and  does  not  embarrass  him  in  his 
vocation  j  he  can  travel  almost  as  well  with  it  as  though  he  had 
no  dress,  and  it  is  decent. 

On  the  4th  of  July  I  buried  one  of  the  marines,  who  had  had 
phthisis  when  we  left  the  United  States ;  he  and  the  old  sailor 
were  the  only  two  who  died  on  board  of  the  Piscataqua  during 
the  seventeen  months  that  I  commanded  her,  manned  by  four 
hundred  and  fifty  men  and  officers.  A  well-cared-for  and  well- 
regulated  vessel-of-war  makes  a  wonderful  improvement  in  the 
crew,  as  every  one  knows  who  has  gone  on  board  of  a  vessel 
about  to  sail  and  has  observed  the  shabby-looking  set,  many  of 
them  without  much  else  than  a  frame  to  build  upon,  and  who 
has  seen  the  same  men  on  the  return  of  the  vessel  after  a  three- 


448  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

years'  cruise,  well  set  up  and  cheery.  What  the  fast  cruisers 
and  modern  battle-ships  will  do  for  them  I  shall  not  venture 
to  say. 

Admiral  Rowan  had  an  invitation  to  pay  a  visit  to  our  excellent 
minister,  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg,  accompanied  by  his  staff,  and 
he  directed  me  to  take  the  vessel  up  the  bay  to  Yedo,  which  was 
done  on  the  10th  of  September.  The  admiral  was  good  enough 
to  ma  e  me  one  of  the  party,  and  I  was  two  days  on  shore  in 
that  interesting  city.  The  Daimios,  or  Lords,  had  in  former 
times  been  obliged  to  spend  a  certain  portion  of  their  time  at 
the  capital  of  the  Tycoon,  and  they  had  extensive  grounds  and 
grande  tenue.  The  city  looked  in  great  part  like  an  assemblage 
of  country-seats  enclosed  in  magnificent  hedges  of  many  kinds 
and  separated  by  villages  closely  built,  with  residences  and  shops 
of  artisans.  As  we  passed  along  in  the  region  of  the  official 
buildings,  Ave  met  a  body  of  twenty  or  thirty  military  officials, 
who  when  near  us  drew  their  revolvers  and  cocked  them.  Ner- 
vous people  might  have  been  shaken  by  this  action,  but  we 
passed  them  and  saluted  in  return,  though  not  in  the  same  manner, 
as  though  it  had  been  a  military  presentation  of  arms ;  and  per- 
haps it  was  so  intended ;  if  so,  it  certainly  was  an  odd  way  of 
presenting  arms. 

After  an  absence  of  two  days,  I  returned  to  the  Piscataqua, 
lying  about  three  miles  from  the  shore,  the  water  being  barely 
deep  enough  to  float  the  vessel  over  the  muddy  bottom.  On 
getting  on  board,  my  aide  informed  me  that  he  and  some  other 
of  the  young  gentlemen  had  been  on  board  of  the  Japanese 
flag-ship,  and  had  been  invited  into  the  cabin  and  received 
politely  ;  he  added  that  the  captain  had  asked  whether  I  was  on 
board,  and  had  been  told  that  I  was  not,  but  that  I  was  expected 
the  next  day.  I  sent  him  soon  after  my  arrival  to  present  my 
compliments  to  the  captain  and  say  that  I  would  be  happy  to 
see  him  whenever  he  might  feel  disposed  to  come  on  board.  On 
the  return  of  my  aide  I  received  a  message  that  he  would  be  on 
board  at  a  given  hour  ;  at  that  time  a  boat  left  the  Japanese 
flag-ship,  and  it  was  apparent,  from  the  honors  paid,  that  the 
rank  of  the  officer  coming  on  board  was  higher  than  that  of 
captain.     I  received  him  at  the  gangway,  and,  after  expressing 


A    VISIT  FROM  ADMIRAL   ENNOMOTTO.  449 

my  satisfaction  at  his  visit,  said  I  should  be  pleased  to  know 
his  rank,  so  that  I  might  have  the  pleasure  of  firing  the  proper 
salute.  He  was  Admiral  Ennomotto,  a  thoroughly  educated 
and  agreeable  gentleman,  and  he  spent  a  couple  of  hours  with 
me.  I  told  him  the  salute  that  he  named  consisted  of  several 
guns  more  than  was  accorded  a  naval  officer  of  any  rank  in  any 
European  navy,  but  in  a  Japanese  port  I  could  do  no  less  than 
give  him  the  salute  given  him  by  his  countrymen.  In  our  con- 
versation he  informed  me  that  he  had  been  educated  in  Holland, 
and  that  the  frigate  he  commanded  had  been  built  in  that 
country.  She  was  a  trim  little  steam  vessel,  with  rifled  battery 
and  admirable  small-arms,  had  fire-extinguishers  of  approved 
types,  and,  in  short,  was  more  thoroughly  fitted  out  than  the 
flag-ship  that  I  had  the  honor  to  command.  He  spoke  Dutch, 
French,  and  English  very  well ;  his  English  utterance  and  ex- 
pression were  very  good.  On  his  leaving  I  gave  him  his  grand 
salute,  and  in  reply  received  only  the  salute  that  was  due  to  the 
flag  of  a  rear-admiral  by  our  Regulations.  I  was  about  having 
my  gig  lowered  to  send  on  board  to  say  that  in  an  exchange  of 
salutes  between  European  nations  the  same  number  of  guns  was 
always  returned  that  had  been  given ;  but  before  the  boat  was 
lowered  our  flag  was  again  run  up  on  board  of  the  Japanese 
flag-ship  and  the  additional  number  of  guns  fired.  On  the 
return  of  our  admiral  I  gave  him  my  statement,  which  per- 
plexed him  ;  he  was  a  stickler  as  to  guns,  and  had  he  been  on 
board  would  perhaps  have  ungraciously  given  the  number  of  guns 
required  for  the  salute  of  a  Japanese  admiral :  so  I  was  glad  he 
was  out  of  the  ship.  He  was  an  admirable  officer  and  gentle- 
man, and  I  do  not  write  this  in  any  spirit  of  condemnation. 
Had  he  gone  on  board  of  the  flag-ship  of  a  Chinese  admiral 
and  been  limited  to  the  salute  of  that  official,  he  would  have 
received  a  salute  of  three  guns,  and  I  am  sure  he  would  not 
have  been  satisfied  with  that.  I  suppose  I  might  as  well  con- 
fess here  to  a  certain  amount  of  indifference,  bordering  on  con- 
tempt, for  the  custom  of  burning  condemned  powder  in  this 
way, — which  is  universal  among  all  maritime  powers.  The 
next  day  I  had  the  pleasure  of  paying  my  respects  to  Admiral 
Ennomotto,  and  spent  some  hours  on  board  of  his  vessel.     At 

29 


450  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

that  time  a  civil  war  was  in  progress,  and  he  belonged  to  the 
party  of  Satsuma,  a  daimio  in  the  southwestern  section  of  Japan, 
in  hostility  to  the  Tycoon,  off  whose  capital  he  was  lying  at 
anchor.  He  did  not  interfere  in  any  manner  with  the  traffic 
that  was  carried  on  in  native  boats.  Several  years  later,  in  an 
engagement  in  another  part  of  Japan,  his  force  was  destroyed 
and  he  was  taken  prisoner.  It  was  said  that  the  captains  and 
many  of  the  officers  under  his  command  were  beheaded,  and 
that  he  was  offered  service  under  the  Tycoon,  which  he  declined  ; 
he  said  that  his  head  belonged  to  the  Tycoon,  but  not  his  ser- 
vices. He  was  kept  in  prison  for  several  years,  and  when  Rear- 
Admiral  John  Rodgers  was  in  command  of  our  Asiatic  Station 
I  asked  his  kind  offices  in  relation  to  Ennomotto's  release,  which 
was  effected,  whether  through  that  or  other  influences  I  know 
not.  Ennomotto  is  now,  or  has  been  up  to  a  recent  date,  Minis- 
ter of  Instruction  in  Japan,  and  I  doubt  not  has  been  able  and 
honest.  He  wrote  me  a  very  earnest  and  kind  letter  after  his 
release  from  prison. 

After  the  admiral  had  spent  a  week  on  shore,  we  dropped 
down  to  our  anchorage  off  Yokohama.  The  skies  had  become 
bright  and  clear,  since  our  arrival  at  Yokohama.  In  the  even- 
ing a  street  known  as  the  "  Benton-dore"  was  much  frequented 
by  the  officers  of  all  nations.  Tables  were  spread  along  the 
fronts  of  the  houses  and  out  into  the  street,  barely  leaving  room 
for  passers-by,  who  always  went  in  the  same  direction ;  these 
tables  were  covered  with  lacquer- ware,  and  bronzes,  and  what- 
ever else  the  dealers  had  that  they  thought  might  be  prized  by 
foreigners.  As  stated  before,  the  country  was  suffering  from  a 
civil  war,  and  the  rich  had  to  sell  their  works  of  art  aud  what- 
ever other  superfluities  they  had  in  order  to  obtain  money  to 
buy  food.  When  anything  struck  the  fancy  of  an  officer  he 
would  inquire  the  price,  and  would  then  either  pass  along  or 
make  a  purchase,  in  which  latter  case,  when  the  article  was  paid 
for,  a  hand  from  a  man  behind  him  would  be  thrust  forward 
and  would  take  the  package,  and  both  the  purchaser  and  his 
self-constituted  porter  would  pass  on  until  they  reached  the  end 
of  the  street,  with  a  like  occurrence,  perhaps,  at  several  places. 
Turning,  they  would  pass  out,  and  through  another  street,  and 


HIOGO.  451 

on  reaching  the  boats  the  porter  would  hand  over  the  articles  to 
the  coxswain  of  the  boat,  receive  a  quarter  of  an  itzebu  (about 
nine  cents),  say  "  sayonare"  ("  good-by"),  and  go  on  his  way. 
In  many  years  I  have  never  heard  of  one  dishonest  porter, 
although  they  are  all  self-constituted,  and  are  not  even  looked 
at  with  a  view  to  identification.  In  the  years  that  have  elapsed 
since  our  visit  I  have  never  heard  of  a  single  case  of  murder  of 
a  foreigner  in  Japan  from  a  mercenary  motive,  although  there 
have  been  several  from  persons  being  rude  and  insulting, — in 
fact,  from  being  ill-bred. 

Returning  from  my  rides  often  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  I 
would  see  small  buildings  in  the  ravines  beneath  the  line  of  road, 
and  the  smoke  rising  from  their  chimneys;  the  inmates  were 
reducing  to  ashes  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  a  common  custom  in 
Japan,  as  also  in  China,  where  the  burial  of  the  dead  would 
seriously  affect  the  health  of  the  living,  as  it  certainly  does  with 
us  in  and  near  populous  cities. 

On  the  29th  of  September  we  left  our  anchorage,  and  three 
days  later  were  at  Hiogo,  in  the  Inland  Sea  of  Japan,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  bodies  of  water  on  the  globe.  I  recall  its  pic- 
turesque islands,  bold  promontories,  and  wooded  heights  with  a 
sense  of  enjoyment  of  the  vision  in  the  past.  Near  Hiogo  was 
a  bold  high  peak,  and  upon  it  a  temple  which  I  reached  with 
considerable  physical  exertion,  and  when  there  I  looked  far  and 
wide  over  land  and  water  of  charming  variety.  Hiogo  was 
the  seaport  of  Osaka,  the  most  opulent  and  beautiful  city  of 
Japan,  with  its  broad  canals,  superb  bridges  over  them,  and 
paved  shore-lines.  It  had  been  for  centuries  the  residence  of  the 
Mikado,  who  was  once  the  temporal  ruler  of  the  land  as  well  as 
the  spiritual,  until  virtually  deposed  by  an  ambitious  Tycoon, 
who  made  his  capital  at  the  city  of  Yedo.  A  few  years  before 
our  visit  our  rear-admiral  Charles  H.  Bell  endeavored  to  cross 
the  shoal  bar  at  the  entrance  of  the  river  upon  which  the  city  is 
situated,  some  miles  above.  His  barge  was  capsized,  and  he  and 
several  other  persons  were  drowned  on  February  19,  1875. 

Hiogo  had  already  become  a  smart  trading  town  in  teas, 
bronzes,  and  other  products  of  Japan.  The  bronzes  of  the  city 
of  Osaka,  both  ancient  and  modern,  are  simpler  in  design  but 


452  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

not  less  pleasing  in  effect  than  those  of  Tokio  and  of  a  city  near 
Nagasaki,  the  name  of  which  I  cannot  now  recall.     So,  too, 
with  their  porcelain.     The  most  expensive,  and  of  rare  beauty, 
was  known  to  foreigners  as  Kagosima  ware.     A  very  gaudy  ware? 
and  some  of  it  very  striking,  we  saw  at  the  town  of  Simonisaki, 
near  the  entrance  of  the  Inland  Sea.     We  remained  four  days 
at  Hiogo,  and  gave  ourselves  five  to  pass  through  the  sea  into 
the  open  water  on  our  way  to  Nagasaki  and  had  practice  at 
a  target  moored  in  open  water  to  avoid  accident.      We  had 
a  pilot  who  was  a  Swede,  and  they  are  usually  seamen  :   he 
surprised   me  by  taking  only  a  single  bearing  to  put  down 
his  position  on  a  chart.      I  endeavored  in  vain  to  teach  him 
that  another  bearing,  as  nearly  at  right  angles  as  convenient, 
would  define  his  position  on  his  line  of  bearing,  but  he  evidently 
regarded  that  as  altogether  too  complicated  a  proceeding,  looking 
at  me  with  a  broad  grin,  such  as  a  man  gives  who  wishes  to  in- 
form you  "  that  he  knows  it  all."     In  the  narrow  passage-way, 
where  the  tides  were  strong  and  irregular  in  set,  near  the  town 
of  Simonisaki,  we  met  two  British  steamers,  and  when  I  was 
looking  at  something  else  I  found  that  the  idiot  of  a  pilot  had 
put  the  helm  a-starboard,  and  that  the  vessel  had  already  swung 
considerably  ;  when  a  long  vessel  "  has  the  swing"  on  her,  it  is 
very  much  the  same  as  when  a  horse  has  the  bit  in  his  teeth.    I 
therefore  laid  her  broadside  across  the  channel  and  stopped  the 
engines,  the  pilot  yelling  at  me  that  we  would  run  on  some  rocks 
ahead.     The  captains  of  the  vessels  coming  in  were  justly  in- 
censed at  our  disregard  of  "  the  rules  of  the  road,"  but  at  all 
events  they  were  fully  informed  as  to  our  movement,  and  could 
have  no  excuse  for  running  into  us,  as  they  would  have  had  to 
go  out  of  their  way  to  do  so.     As  soon  as  the  vessels  had  passed, 
and  I  had  the  ship  on  her  course,  I  called  the  pilot  down  out  of 
the  rigging,  where  he  had  ensconced  himself,  and  asked  him 
what  had  possessed  him  to  leave  the  right  shore-line  to  pass  across 
the  bows  of  the  two  steamers.     He  told  me  that  we  had  no  room 
on  that  side,  whereupon  I  informed  him,  using  other  words,  how- 
ever, to  convey  my  meaning,  "  that  he  was  not  one  of  the  wise 
men  of  the  East,"  and  that  very  soon,  if  he  did  not  take  my 
advice,  he  would  come  to  grief,  as  he  did  in  fact  some  years  later, 


MR.  CONSUL   MANGUM.  453 

by  running  down  a  vessel  and  sinking  either  her  or  the  vessel 
that  he  was  piloting.  We  kept  on  our  way,  and  at  eight  o'clock 
were  in  the  open  water,  running  along  the  coast-line  for  Nagasaki, 
with  a  fresh  breeze  and  a  fair  current  driving  us  on  our  course. 
We  averaged  more  than  sixteen  knots  hourly,  carrying  a  fore- 
topmast  studding-sail  until  the  sun  went  down,  when  the  numbers 
of  fishing-boats  off  the  coast  made  it  necessary  for  us  to  shorten 
sail  and  reduce  speed  to  avoid  running  over  them.  After  night- 
fall, the  whole  sea  near  us  was  lighted  up  by  the  torches  in  the 
fishing-boats ;  I  kept  my  watch  on  the  forecastle,  and  found  a 
mechanical  contrivance  of  a  "  helm-indicator"  of  great  value  in 
preventing  our  running  over  the  boats  that  covered  the  waters. 
Although  the  night  was  quite  dark,  and  there  were  no  harbor 
lights,  the  bold  outlines  of  the  narrow  entrance,  and  of  a  small 
island,  enabled  us  to  enter  with  entire  security  and  find  our  way 
up  to  an  anchorage.  In  the  forenoon  we  had  to  shift  our  berth 
on  account  of  the  length  of  the  vessel  interfering  with  other 
vessels  in  swinging. 

We  were  very  much  pleased  to  meet  our  excellent  consul,  Mr. 
Mangum,  and  his  refined  and  intelligent  wife,  with  both  of  whom 
we  enjoyed  long  walks  over  the  beautiful  surrounding  country, 
and  an  occasional  visit  to  the  islands  lying  off  the  entrance, — upon 
one  of  which  there  is  a  noted  temple,  reached  by  a  long  line  of 
steps  cut  into  the  rocks.  The  whole  surroundings  of  the  harbor 
are  picturesque  in  the  extreme.  On  the  right  near  the  entrance, 
and  extending  for  two  miles,  is  the  town,  built  on  ground  of 
moderate  elevation,  and  beyond  is  a  steep  hill,  with  many  beau- 
tiful trees  on  its  side,  which  has  been  a  burial-spot  probably  for 
thousands  of  years.  I  frequently  walked  or  rode  to  the  sum- 
mit of  this  hill,  and  was  much  gratified  at  the  polite  attentions 
always  paid  to  me  by  those  whom  I  met.  These  "  heathen" 
have  the  humanizing  habit  of  visiting  the  graves  of  their  parents 
and  relatives  and  adorning  them  with  plants  and  flowers.  Thev 
take  with  them  all  the  family  and  a  nice  luncheon,  and  seated 
under  the  trees  enjoy  the  beautiful  landscape.  I  was  invited  at 
times  to  join  a  family  circle,  with  the  kindliness  that  belongs  to 
well-bred  people  of  whatever  race.  Going  up  a  flight  of  stone 
steps  several  hundred  feet  in  height  on  horseback  seemed  some- 


454  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

what  hazardous.  It  would  have  been  bad  for  the  rider,  as 
well  as  for  the  horse,  had  the  latter  stumbled, — going  down 
especially. 

There  are  many  customs  of  Asiatics  which  are  diametrically 
opposite  to  those  of  Europeans,  as  is  well  known  to  most  readers 
of  travels.  In  the  Japan  of  the  past,  the  visitor  left  his  shoes 
at  the  door,  and  kept  on  his  hat ;  it  would  have  been  an  un- 
warrantable liberty  for  him  to  take  off  his  hat  in  making  an 
ordinary  visit.  If  a  Japanese  or  a  Chinaman  of  rank  inquired 
your  age,  it  would  be  a  particular  mark  of  interest  and  respect, 
and  if  informed  that  you  were  sixty,  he  would  feign  surprise, 
and  say  he  had  supposed  that  you  were  quite  seventy  or  older, 
just  as  we  would  pretend  to  be  surprised  and  assign  ten  years 
less  age  by  way  of  compliment.  A  friend  cannot  manifest  his 
regard  more  acceptably  than  in  presenting  a  camphor-wood 
coffin,  but  that  applies  to  the  Chinese  rather  than  to  the  Jap- 
anese. An  old  man  is  always  treated  with  respect,  and,  if  he  be 
a  relative,  or  a  man  of  rank,  with  veneration, — the  reverse  of 
Young  America's  usual  treatment  of  age. 

We  passed  the  month  of  October  delightfully  in  Nagasaki, 
and  then  left  for  Wusung,  just  within  the  entrance  of  the  Yang- 
tse-Kiang  River,  the  large  watershed  of  which  may  be  seen  on 
any  ordinary  school  atlas.  It  is  probable  that  the  waters  of 
this  river  drown  more  human  beings  in  a  decade  than  those  of 
any  other  river  on  the  globe.  The  approach  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Yang-tse-Kiang  would  be  dangerous  were  it  not  that  Gutz- 
laff  Island  affords  an  excellent  mark  for  entering,  and  if  kept 
on  a  line  of  bearing,  affords  the  means  of  getting  well  within 
the  shoal  grounds  in  smooth  water,  where  excellent  anchorage  is 
found.  The  tides  are  very  strong,  and  sweep  along  the  coast 
almost  at  right  angles  to  the  mouth  of  the  river.  After  a  day's 
detention  in  the  Yang-tse-Kiang,  we  reached  what  is  known  as 
the  Wusung,  on  the  7th  of  November.  There  is  a  town  here 
which  has  no  European  traffic;  but  Shanghai,  twelve  miles 
above,  now  an  opulent  city,  had  sprung  into  existence  since  my 
visit  of  twenty-one  years  before.  The  hospitality  of  the  foreign 
merchants  was  unbounded,  and,  in  my  belief,  was  the  cause  of 
more  deaths  than  the  climate,  which  is  malarial,  with  a  bad  type 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  DINNER.  455 

of  fever.  While  at  anchor  I  frequently  went  on  shore  to  shoot, 
aud  found  in  a  thickly-populated  region  a  considerable  number 
of  hare,  and  the  "  copper  pheasant/'  which,  as  far  as  I  can  see, 
is  very  much  like  the  English  pheasant.  The  inhabitants  do 
not  live  in  villages,  as  in  some  other  parts,  but  are  usually 
separated ;  a  considerable  clump  of  bamboos  invariably  marks 
the  site  of  a  house,  and  at  the  same  time  conceals  it. 

One  day  we  observed  a  Chinese  boat  with  a  crew  and  passen- 
gers of  some  twenty  persons  capsize  in  the  river  near  us ;  there 
were  dozens  of  other  boats  passing,  going  up  or  down  the  river ; 
not  one  of  them  took  the  least  notice  of  the  mishap,  but  sailed 
by  without  pity.  Had  it  not  been  for  us,  perhaps  all  on  board 
of  the  capsized  boat  would  have  perished.  I  had  boats  called 
away,  the  people  rescued,  and,  as  I  remember,  the  boat  towed 
into  shoal  water,  so  that  she  should  not  drift  to  sea.  Mention- 
ing this  circumstance  to  one  of  the  merchants,  he  told  me  that 
three  of  his  acquaintances  who  had  a  fine  sail-boat  had  on  one 
occasion  gone  up  the  river  on  a  shooting-tour.  Two  of  them 
were  below,  and  the  third  was  lying  on  the  deck ;  a  flaw  of 
wind  caused  him  to  fall  overboard,  but  the  Chinaman  did  not  in 
the  least  concern  himself;  when  his  friends  came  up  from  below 
they  looked  around  with  some  alarm,  and  asked  the  Chinaman 
what  had  become  of  him  :  he  coolly  replied,  "  He  go  top-side," 
meaning  that  he  had  fallen  overboard.  The  wretch  had  not 
even  thought  it  worth  while  to  inform  his  friends.  There  is  a 
belief  with  the  Chinese  that  when  any  one  rescues  a  person  from 
death  he  becomes  responsible  for  the  rescued  person's  future 
misdeeds,  which  otherwise  would  not  have  occurred. 

The  admiral  was  good  enough  to  invite  me  to  accompany  him 
as  one  of  a  numerous  suite  of  officers  to  dine  with  the  Tou-ti, 
or  governor  of  the  province,  which,  by  the  way,  has  half  as 
many  inhabitants  as  the  United  States.  The  dinner  was  entirely 
Chinese  in  its  menu,  beginning  with  fruits,  and  ending  with  a 
lacquered  pig.  I  had  the  bill  of  fare,  but  I  regret  to  say  that  it 
has  been  lost.  The  pig  is  the  only  roast  the  Chinese  make ;  it 
is  often  fifty  or  more  pounds  in  weight,  and  is  always  served  cold. 
Their  only  alcoholic  drink  was  samshoo,  a  species  of  rum  made 
from  rice,  very  strong,  and  said  to  be  very  injurious.     But  one 


456  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

plate,  whether  a  stew  or  a  vegetable,  was  served  at  a  time,  and 
cold  tea  without  sugar  or  milk  was  handed  round  frequently. 
Many  persons  may  have  observed  that  navy  men  who  have 
served  on  the  Asiatic  station  rarely  take  cream  in  tea ;  this 
abstinence  has  become  a  habit  through  the  fact  that  after  they 
were  weaned  as  children  they  had  a  prejudice  against  taking 
milk  from  a  woman,  which  is  the  usual  source  of  supply  in 
China.  We  bade  our  friends  good-by  with  the  belief  that  their 
lavish  hospitality  had  not  inflicted  on  us  any  permanent  injury. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

Sail  for  Amoy — The  Admiral's  Cabin-Ports  stove  in — General  Legendre — 
Malodorous  Amoy — Bengal  Tigers — Visit  to  a  Spanish  Catholic  Missionary 
— Keturn  to  Hong-Kong — Leave  in  the  Steamer  Great  Kepublic  for  the 
United  States — Yokohama — Measuring  the  Height  of  Fusi-yama — Arrive 
at  San  Francisco — Great  Changes  noted  in  San  Francisco— Dr.  A.  J.  Bowie 
— Arrive  at  Washington,  and  am  assigned  to  Duty  as  Chief  of  the  Bureau 
of  Yards  and  Docks — Assigned  to  Duty  as  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Navi- 
gation— Admiral  Porter — The  Isthmian  Surveys  assigned  to  me — A  Com- 
mission appointed,  General  A.  A.  Humphreys  President,  Professor  Peirce, 
and,  later,  Captain  C.  P.  Patterson — Colonel  Hopkins  calls,  at  the  Bequest 
of  Cyrus  W.  Field,  in  Regard  to  Deep-Sea  Soundings  in  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

We  left  our  anchorage  on  the  15th  of  December,  for  Amoy. 
The  northeast  monsoon  had  fairly  set  in,  as  we  found  a  day  or 
so  later.  As  we  approached  the  Formosa  Channel  the  short 
battering  seas  stove  in  the  stern-ports  in  the  admiral's  cabin  and 
flooded  it  with  water.  We  were  under  sail  only,  and  the  admiral 
directed  me  to  bring  the  vessel  by  the  wind  with  as  little  delay 
as  possible.  It  was  about  ten  p.m.,  and  there  was  a  beautiful 
moon.  I  had  no  sooner  settled  the  top-sails  on  the  cap  and 
hauled  out  the  reef-tackles  than  I  brought  her  by,  and  such 
another  cracking  I  have  never  heard  on  board  ship.  The  violent 
rolling  actually  unshipped  many  of  the  ladders  leading  from  the 
spar-deck  to  the  gun-deck,  owing  to  the  working  of  the  frame 
of  the  ship.     What  surprised  me  greatly,  afterwards,  was  the 


GENERAL  LEG  END  RE.  457 

fact  that  the  copper  lining  of  the  magazines  or  shell-rooms,  so 
near  the  line  of  keel,  was  badly  cracked  and  split,  from  the  work- 
ing of  the  frame.  After  we  had  secured  the  stern-ports  we  bore 
away,  and  went  along  quite  comfortably :  we  should  not  have 
known  what  a  fierce  little  sea  we  had  passed  through  had  we  not 
brought  the  ship  by  the  wind.  The  powerful  breeze  sent  us  on 
our  way  rapidly,  and  in  three  days  we  were  at  anchor  in  the 
superb  little  harbor  of  Amoy,  with  rocks  all  around  us,  in  shore- 
lines and  hills  almost  destitute  of  vegetation. 

Here  we  found  General  Legendre,  who  had  been  very  kindly 
spoken  of  by  all  our  officers  who  had  visited  that  port.  He  had 
lost  an  eye,  and  was  otherwise  very  much  injured  by  the  many 
wounds  he  had  received  in  battle  during  our  civil  war.  Not 
only  was  he  able  officially,  but  he  was  also  a  most  agreeable  and 
hospitable  host.  He  had  much  to  do  with  breaking  up  the 
infamous  coolie  trade  carried  on  at  that  time,  or  a  little  later, 
principally  between  Macao  and  Soo-Chow  and  Peru,  and  later  on 
was  most  useful  to  humanity  in  aiding  the  Japanese  to  conquer 
the  wild  tribes  on  the  south  of  the  island  of  Formosa  and  in 
forcing  the  Chinese  to  become  their  sponsors.  This,  of  course, 
was  after  he  had  left  the  consular  service. 

The  years  that  I  had  been  absent  from  Amoy  had  apparently 
wrought  no  change  in  that  city  of  strong  and  diverse  smells ; 
it  seemed  to  me  I  could  tell  the  streets  by  the  different  mal- 
odors.  The  same  kinds  of  soiled  silk-embroidered  garments 
were  brought  on  board  for  sale,  as  well  as  carved  wood-work. 
It  had  not  then  occurred  to  me  what  a  means  of  spreading  all 
sorts  of  epidemics  these  garments  might  become.  Typhus  fever, 
scarlet  fever,  smallpox,  and  many  other  diseases  may  lie  dormant 
in  such  garments  for  years.  Had  I  thought  of  this  I  should 
have  forbidden  the  traffic  on  board  of  the  vessel.  The  wood- 
carving  of  Amoy  is  of  a  superior  order ;  at  Ningpo  they  have  a 
method  of  sawing  a  log  in  cross-sections,  then  drawing  patterns 
upon  the  blocks  and  punching  the  figures  out.  Every  one  of 
the  ports  at  that  time  had  some  specialty  not  found  elsewhere. 

I  was  surprised  to  learn  that  in  the  rocky  region  not  fifty 
miles  distant  Bengal  tigers  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  do  a 
great  deal  of  harm.     I  knew  that  these  animals  abounded  on 


458  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

the  Amoor  River  beyond  the  fiftieth  degree  of  latitude,  as  I  had 
seen  skins  from  that  region  upon  which  the  hair  was  several 
inches  long.  The  Bengal  tigers,  like  the  jaguars,  take  to  the 
water  naturally.  They  swim  over  the  strait  between  the  Malay 
peninsula  and  the  island  of  Singapore,  and  are  still  numerous, 
notwithstanding  the  Chinese  trap  a  considerable  number. 

Accompanied  by  Fleet-Surgeon  Maccoun,  I  paid  a  visit  to 
a  Spanish  Catholic  missionary,  Nicolas  Guisa,  a  native  of  Bar- 
celona, who  had  been  sent  to  Manila  and  afterwards  to  Amoy, 
where  he  had  now  been  for  several  years.  He  was  much  grati- 
fied at  our  visit,  and  told  me  he  went  frequently  some  fifty  miles 
into  the  country  to  several  missionary  stations  that  had  been 
established.  I  invited  him  to  come  on  board  and  dine  with  me 
the  following  Sunday,  and  at  the  time  appointed  sent  my  gig  to 
bring  him.  Before  leaving  he  thanked  me  warmly,  and  said  that 
my  visit  would  free  him  in  a  great  degree  from  petty  annoyances 
to  which  he  had  hitherto  been  subjected  by  the  Chinese.  I 
asked  how  long  he  expected  to  remain ;  he  replied,  during  his 
lifetime.  He  received  letters  only  once  a  year  from  his  family 
in  Spain,  who  he  told  me  were  persons  of  rank.  He  was  a 
remarkably  intelligent  and  handsome  man,  and  had  the  manners 
of  a  well-bred  Spaniard,  the  best  type  of  European  courtesy. 
In  the  wilds  of  South  America  I  have  had  occasion  to  remark 
the  courteous  and  dignified  bearing  of  men  of  the  Spanish  race, 
though  intermixed  with  Indian  blood,  who  wore  sandals,  a  hat, 
and  a  poncho,  with  as  little  other  clothing  as  was  compatible 
with  decency. 

After  fifteen  days  in  port,  we  left  for  Hong-Kong,  and  arrived 
there  the  next  day.  During  the  prevalence  of  the  northeast 
monsoon  the  climate  of  the  coast  of  China  is  delightful.  If  you 
go  to  sea  and  have  to  beat  to  windward  you  find  that  there  is 
too  much  of  it,  and  you  have  a  toilsome  task ;  but  that  is  a 
thing  of  the  past.  Steaming  against  it  is  not  difficult,  where 
the  navigator  is  sensible  enough  to  keep  in  along  the  coasts, 
sheltered  by  the  headlands,  and  aided  in  some  degree  by  counter- 
currents.  We  arrived  at  Hong-Kong  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1869,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  several  old  friends,  our 
countrymen  and  others.     On  the  18th  of  February  I  left  in  the 


GREAT  CHANGES  NOTED  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.        459 

Pacific  Mail  steamer  Great  Republic  for  the  United  States. 
The  admiral  had  previously  received  instructions  by  telegram  to 
send  me  home ;  this  was  done  by  the  Navy  Department  at  the 
request  of  General  Grant,  who  had  been  elected  President  of  the 
United  States  the  previous  November. 

The  Great  Republic  was  a  large  and  comfortable  steamer,  and 
perhaps  the  last  of  side-wheel-steamers  intended  for  long  voy- 
ages in  the  open  sea.  We  arrived  at  Yokohama  on  the  4th 
of  March,  the  day  upon  which  General  Grant  was  inaugurated, 
and  witnessed  the  unusual  spectacle  of  snow  lying  on  the  ground 
for  several  days,  while  the  volcano  Fusi-yama  stood  out  some 
fifty  miles  distant,  snow-clad  from  summit  to  base.  I  could  not 
forego  an  attempt  to  measure  its  height,  which  I  had  neglected 
to  do  previously ;  turning  to  my  note-book,  I  find  it  entered 
that  our  charts  gave  the  height  as  12,450  feet,  and  my  calcula- 
tions made  it  12,409  feet,  in  which  allowance  was  made  for  the 
rotundity  of  the  earth.  We  sailed  the  next  day,  and  were 
twenty  days  in  reaching  San  Francisco.  I  did  not  fail  to  write 
my  old  friend  Allan  McLane,  Esq.,  then  President  of  the 
Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company,  that  he  would  have  to  give 
up  old  ways  and  take  to  the  new ;  it  would  not  answer  to  have 
to  slow  down  in  the  run,  over  this  wide  sea,  especially  at  the 
moment  when  heavy  seas  came  along,  in  order  to  allow  the 
vessel  to  roll,  so  as  to  avoid  breaking  the  shaft,  one  wheel  being 
almost  in  the  air  and  the  other  buried  almost  to  its  centre  in  the 
water.  The  course  followed  was  not  the  arc  of  a  great  circle, 
nor  an  approximation  to  it,  but  a  parallel  of  calms  just  outside 
the  trade-winds,  where  the  huge  seas  rolling  in  from  the  west- 
ward were  unbroken  at  the  surface  and  yet  were  so  large  as  to 
prevent  the  steamer  from  exerting  her  full  steam-power  without 
endangering  the  shaft.  A  broken  shaft  on  a  side-wheel  steamer 
in  a  wide  ocean,  to  say  the  least,  makes  her  a  very  "  lame  duck." 
One  of  the  steamers  of  this  line  actually  broke  her  shaft  on  her 
voyage. 

On  arriving  at  San  Francisco,  where  I  had  not  been  since 
1852,  I  noted  the  marvellous  changes  that  had  occurred,  and 
had  the  satisfaction  of  meeting  my  old  friend  and  shipmate  Dr. 
A.  J.  Bowie,  who  had  been  a  prominent  physician  of  that  city 


460         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

for  many  years.  It  was  late  when  I  left  his  house,  as  he  said, 
when  I  first  proposed  going,  "  Don't  go  yet  j  we  will  never  meet 
again ;"  and,  although  he  died  only  four  years  ago,  Ave  never 
did.  The  overland  mil  road  had  not  then  been  completed  ;  there 
was  still  a  gap  of  more  than  one  hundred  miles, — though  it  was 
completed  while  I  was  coming  home  by  way  of  Panama. 

There  was  nothing  of  particular  interest  in  the  voyage  home, 
and  about  the  1st  of  May  I  arrived  at  Washington,  and  was 
assigned  to  duty  as  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks.  It 
was  not  without  misgivings  that  I  took  charge  of  that  Bureau, 
and  I  said  so  to  the  President,  adding  that  if  I  found  I  was  not 
able  to  fulfil  the  duties  I  could  resign.  When  I  was  ordered 
home  the  intention  had  been  to  send  me  to  the  Isthmus  to  make 
hydrographic  surveys  in  connection  with  topographic  work  by  an 
army  officer,  to  determine  upon  the  practicability  of  a  ship-canal, 
if  the  physical  conditions  admitted  of  a  commercial  solution ; 
but  other  officers  had  in  the  mean  time  been  assigned  to  that 
duty,  and  I  remained  a  fixture  in  Washington  for  a  good  many 
years. 

Admiral  Farragut  died  in  August,  1870 ;  the  following  De- 
cember, at  the  time  Vice- Admiral  Porter  was  nominated  to  fill 
the  vacancy,  I  happened  to  be  at  the  White  House.  Mrs.  Grant, 
who  had  doubtless  heard  of  a  letter  of  Admiral  Porter's,  here- 
after mentioned,  asked  me  what  I  thought  of  him.  I  said  that 
professionally  I  regarded  Porter  as  the  ablest  officer  we  had  ever 
had  afloat  in  command  of  a  large  force.  I  went  on  to  say  that  in 
the  opinion  of  most  navy  men  John  Paul  Jones  was  the  embodi- 
ment of  a  great  sea-captain,  yet  that  perhaps  had  he  been  asked 
for  his  own  estimate  of  his  qualities  he  would  have  admitted 
that  he  thought  well  of  himself  as  a  sea-captain,  but  would  have 
added,  with  pride,  that  his  genius  lay  in  writing  love-sonnets  and 
letters  such  as  he  addressed  to  Lady  Selkirk.  In  like  manner,  if 
any  one  had  the  confidence  of  the  vice-admiral,  and  could  elicit 
his  opinion  of  himself,  it  would  be  found  that  he  thought  well  of 
himself  as  a  sea-captain,  but  that  he  considered  his  strong  point 
to  consist  in  his  ability  to  write  despatches  and  letters.  Presi- 
dent Grant  was  engaged  at  the  moment  in  taking  leave  of  some 
visitors,  but  had  overheard  my  remarks ;  after  the  visitors  left, 


ASSIGNED  TO  DUTY  AS  CHIEF  OF  YARDS  AND  DOCKS.    4Q\ 

he  turned  to  me  with  a  humorous  smile,  and  said,  "  Ammen, 
you  know  all  about  Porter ;  I  have  exactly  your  estimate  of 
him  afloat ;  he  co-operated  with  me  on  the  Mississippi,  and  I 
regard  him  as  exceptionally  able." 

A  day  or  so  later,  my  duties  called  me  to  St.  Louis ;  I  had 
barely  reached  Cincinnati  when  I  read  the  astounding  private 
letter  written  by  the  vice-admiral  to  Mr.  Welles,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  just  after  the  taking  of  Fort  Fisher.  It  occurred  to 
me  instantly  that  some  inkling  of  this  had  caused  Mrs.  Grant's 
inquiry.  It  had  been  conveniently  brought  to  light  to  prevent 
the  vice-admiral  from  being  confirmed  after  he  was  nominated 
for  admiral  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Farragut. 
I  groaned  both  inwardly  and  outwardly  on  reading  it,  and  con- 
gratulated myself  that  I  was  not  in  Washington  and  would  not 
return  before  the  miserable  gossip  was  over.  On  reaching  St. 
Louis  I  read  a  second  letter,  written  by  the  vice-admiral  in 
relation  to  the  first.  Then  I  lamented  that  I  had  not  been  in 
Washington,  thinking  that  I  might  have  prevented  its  publica- 
tion. On  my  return  the  President  told  me  that  the  vice-admiral 
had  shown  him  the  letter  and  asked  his  permission  to  publish 
it,  and  that  he  had  said,  "  Certainly,  if  you  wish  to  do  so."  I 
had  served  under  the  vice-admiral  in  the  bombardments  of  Fort 
Fisher,  satisfactorily  to  him  and  to  myself,  and  although  I  had  no 
particular  intimacy  with  him,  from  my  official  status,  and  other- 
wise, I  had  the  idea  that  I  might  have  demonstrated  to  him 
the  lack  of  logic  and  the  utter  impropriety  of  the  second  letter. 

In  1886  Admiral  Porter  published  his  "Naval  History  of 
the  Civil  War."  In  order  to  impress  upon  a  youth  the  great 
interest  I  took  in  his  learning  to  write  short-hand,  I  began  the 
reading  of  this  book  to  him,  marking  in  pencil  our  daily  prog- 
ress. On  looking  at  my  marks  I  find  it  was  laid  aside  on  the 
seventy-fourth  page,  on  account  of  .the  great  number  of  errors 
and  inaccuracies  that  I  found  in  it.  I  should  not  have  touched 
on  this  subject  had  it  not  been  that  I  desire  to  palliate  what 
seems  to  me  to  have  been  an  unhappy  idiosyncrasy  of  the  ad- 
miral. From  my  personal  intercourse  with  him  I  feel  assured 
that  he  never  wrote  what  he  did  not  believe  to  be  true ;  but 
what  he  believed  he  did  not  thiuk  worth  while  to  inquire  into, 


462  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

as  a  matter  of  fact.  He  had  the  conviction  that  the  earnestness 
of  purpose  of  himself  and  others  afloat,  and  their  actual  services, 
were  not  sufficiently  regarded.  He  was  a  man  of  indomitable 
energy  and  courage,  knew  how  to  organize  and  command  men, 
and,  what  is  quite  as  important,  saw  to  it  that  he  had  the  neces- 
sary supplies  and  munitions,  without  which  a  force  soon  becomes 
inefficient.  He  was  generous  in  his  instincts,  and  desirous  of 
doing  justice  to  every  one  under  his  command, — a  feeling  which 
in  fact  is  almost  universal  with  great  leaders  of  men,  whether 
afloat  or  on  shore. 

As  a  broad  criticism,  more  for  the  benefit  of  young  officers 
than  for  other  readers,  I  may  say  that  I  have  had  no  personal 
acquaintance  with  any  man  of  rank,  and  no  recollection  in  my 
readings  of  any  one  who  has  commanded  successfully,  who 
imagined  that  he  was  made  of  other  flesh  and  blood  than  the 
men  under  his  command,  and  who  thought  that  their  hardships 
should  not  be  his  own. 

On  the  promotion  of  Commodore  Alden,  I  was  assigned 
as  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Navigation,  in  his  place.  On  the 
occurrence  of  the  vacancy,  my  old  and  valued  friend  Vice- 
Admiral  Rowan  had  said  to  me,  "  Now  you  will  apply  for  that 
Bureau."  I  replied  that  I  had  never  applied  for  a  Bureau,  and 
never  would ;  yet  on  some  accounts  I  should  be  pleased  to  be 
appointed,  for  I  would  then  ask  to  be  placed  in  special  charge 
of  the  Isthmian  surveys  at  that  time  in  progress,  under  the  Navy 
Department,  and  I  would  endeavor  to  bring  about  the  survey 
of  the  North  Pacific  Ocean  and  have  special  charge  of  that. 
Notwithstanding  that  no  application  was  made  by  me,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  I  was  appointed,  and  a  few  days  later 
received  the  congratulations  by  letter  of  an  old  and  valued 
friend  ;  in  reply  I  wrote  that  I  did  not  consider  it  a  subject  of 
congratulation,  feeling  sure,  as  I  did,  that  I  would  lose  many 
old  friends,  and  would  gain  no  new  ones,  in  making  the  assign- 
ments to  duties  that  pertained  to  the  Bureau.  In  his  reply  he 
assured  me  that  this  would  not  occur,  it  being  the  general  belief 
that  I  would  be  just  in  recommending  assignments.  In  less 
than  six  months  he  and  myself  spoke  only  as  gentlemen  do  in 
meeting ;  he  desired  that  I  would  protect  him  from  a  fancied 


A    COMMISSION  APPOINTED.  463 

"  indignity"  that  I  had  been  willing  to  pass  through,  as  I  wrote 
him,  when  Chief  of  a  Bureau. 

In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  Bureau  for  a  term  of 
seven  years,  until  I  was  made  rear-admiral  and  then  asked  to 
be  retired  under  existing  laws,  I  am  not  conscious  of  having 
endeavored  to  visit  the  displeasure  of  the  Department  upon  any 
individual  as  a  mere  exercise  of  power  from  personal  considera- 
tions, nor  am  I  conscious  of  having  assigned  duty  to  any  one 
of  my  personal  friends  at  the  expense  of  the  just  claims  of  any 
brother  officer.  At  that  time  it  was  a  difficult  position  to  fill, 
and  perhaps  is  so  still.  I  said  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
when  I  entered  upon  that  duty  that  I  would  not  make  any 
nomination  from  personal  considerations,  and  that  when  I  sub- 
mitted my  list,  if  he  chose  to  alter  it,  I  would  in  good  faith 
execute  his  instructions,  for  written  above  my  signature  was  the 
phrase  "  by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,"  in  all  orders 
issued  to  officers. 

I  had  the  satisfaction  of  having  the  conduct  of  the  Isthmian 
surveys  assigned  to  my  special  direction,  until  March  13,  1872, 
when  a  commission  was  appointed  by  the  President  under  a  joint 
Congressional  resolution,  of  which  the  President  was  General  A. 
A.  Humphreys,  Chief  of  Army  Engineers,  Professor  Peirce, 
Superintendent  of  the  Coast  Survey,  and,  later,  Captain  C.  P. 
Patterson,  when  he  became  Superintendent,  with  myself,  as  Chief 
of  the  Bureau  of  Navigation.  As  junior  member,  I  acted  as 
secretary,  and  formulated  orders  or  instructions  for  the  surveys, 
which  were  discussed,  often  modified,  and  then  submitted  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  with  the  information  that  they  had  been 
framed  by  the  commission.  They  then  received  his  approval 
and  were  issued  over  his  signature. 

Although  I  was  able  to  get  a  preliminary  force  at  surveying 
work  in  the  Pacific,  the  classes  of  vessels  were  not  suitable,  and, 
the  attempted  survey  lacking  the  favorable  endorsement  of  a 
Senator  from  California,  my  very  moderate  estimates  for  vessels 
were  stricken  out  of  the  appropriation  bill.  The  survey  beyond 
the  coast  was  abandoned,  but  that  of  the  coast  itself  was  prose- 
cuted beyond  our  southern  boundaries  along  the  peninsula  of 
California  and  in  the  Gulf,  and  it  has  been  continued  along  that 


464         THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

coast,  though  with  insufficient  means  and  inferior  vessels,  with 
very  fair  results  and  with  credit  to  the  navy. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  sent  for  me  one  day  and  introduced 
me  to  Colonel  Hopkins,  who  came  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Cyrus 
TV.  Field  to  ask  that  deep  soundings  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  be  taken 
with  the  view  of  facilitating  the  laying  of  cables  from  our  coast 
to  Japan  and  elsewhere.  The  Secretary  added,  in  a  compliment- 
ary manner,  that  anything  I  would  agree  to  he  would  endeavor 
to  have  executed.  Colonel  Hopkins  went  with  me  to  my  desk 
and  explained  briefly  what  was  wished.  He  was  informed  that 
our  appropriations  did  not  include  estimates  for  dynamometers, 
necessary  for  sounding  in  deep  seas,  but  that  the  Bureau  could 
properly  furnish  sounding-lines  and  other  appliances  to  carry  out 
the  proposed  objects.  If  Mr.  Field  would  supply  a  dynamom- 
eter, the  other  necessary  outlays  would  be  met  by  the  Bureau, 
and  I  would  recommend  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  the  detail 
of  a  vessel  to  make  the  soundings.  An  inquiry  was  made  as  to 
where  a  dynamometer  could  be  found,  to  which  I  replied  that  I 
had  no  exact  information  in  relation  to  such  matters,  but  that  if 
Mr.  Field  would  furnish  one  such  as  was  used  on  board  of  a 
Coast  Survey  steamer  that  had  recently  been  sent  to  the  Pacific, 
I  should  regard  that  as  perhaps  the  best  obtainable.  In  a  month 
or  so  I  was  requested  to  inspect  the  instrument,  on  Greenwich 
Street,  New  York.  At  an  early  day  I  went  on,  and,  upon  stating 
my  object  at  the  machine-shop,  was  shown  two  small  oscillating 
engines  of  beautiful  action.  I  said  they  were  all  right,  but  that 
my  object  in  coming  on  was  to  inspect  a  dynamometer,  where- 
upon I  was  informed  that  the  steamer  referred  to  had  no  other 
fitments  than  two  such  engines,  admirably  adapted  to  haul  up 
a  line,  but  without  any  pretension  to  fitness  for  measuring  the 
strain  on  the  line,  which  of  course  is  the  only  function  of  a  dyna- 
mometer. As  this  left  me  in  a  dilemma,  I  had  a  steam  engineer 
detailed  who  had  been  employed  in  laying  marine  cables  for 
telegraphy,  to  design  a  suitable  instrument  for  sounding,  and 
make  estimates  of  the  cost,  and  requisition  was  made  for  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  sounding-line  of  the  best  Italian  hemp  to 
meet  the  contingency  of  a  failure  in  the  use  of  wire,  which,  as 
I  in  the  mean  time  had  learned  from  the  public  prints,  had  been 


DEEP-SEA   SOUS  DINGS  IN   THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN.     4(35 

successfully  employed  by  Sir  William  Thomson  off  the  coast  of 
Scotland  in  considerable  depths. 

A  short  time  before,  Professor  Baird,  the  Regent  of  the 
Smithsonian,  had  dropped  into  my  office  on  a  brief  visit,  and, 
on  being  informed  as  to  my  intentions,  had  suggested  that  I 
should  write  to  Sir  William,  who  was  his  personal  acquaintance, 
and  who  he  felt  assured  would  render  all  the  assistance  in  his 
power ;  this  suggestion  was  acted  upon  without  delay.  I  received 
a  reply  in  a  brief  time,  and,  as  requested,  Sir  William  ordered 
two  dynamometers  and  a  supply  of  22-gauge  piano-wire,  such 
as  he  had  employed  in  the  soundings  above  referred  to,  and  sent 
me  a  published  memorandum  relating  to  the  apparatus  he  had 
employed  and  the  soundings  he  had  made  off  the  coast  of  Scot- 
land. I  observed  that  he  employed  a  sinker  of  lead  of  twenty- 
seven  pounds  weight,  and  hauled  it  up,  and,  noting  the  tensile 
strength  of  the  wire,  saw  that  it  would  sustain  eight  times  the 
weight  of  his  plummet.  I  directed  the  officer  charged  with 
making  the  soundings  to  double  the  weight  of  the  plummet  em- 
ployed by  Sir  William  and  fit  it  with  the  Brooke  or  some  other 
detaching  apparatus,  as  there  could  be  no  advantage  in  hauling 
it  up,  but  necessarily  would  be  a  great  loss  of  time,  with  greater 
liability  to  break  the  wire. 

I  had  previously  asked  authority  to  detail  Commander  Bel- 
knap, then  in  the  Pacific  in  command  of  the  Tuscarora,  to  make 
these  soundings,  and  had  furnished  him  with  all  the  information 
possessed  by  me  in  relation  to  such  matters.  On  his  arrival  in 
San  Francisco  I  wrote  him,  stating  my  ideas  as  to  the  very  many 
theoretical  advantages  the  wire  had  over  hemp  line,  adding  that, 
as  I  was  not  willing  to  see  a  failure  on  theoretical  conditions, 
however  satisfactory  they  might  seem  in  every  particular,  I  had 
sent  also  a  dynamometer  for  the  use  of  hemp  line,  which  he  was 
not  to  use,  however,  until  he  had  exhausted  every  means  to  make 
the  use  of  wire  a  success. 

The  advantages  of  the  use  of  wire,  in  my  judgment,  were 
briefly  as  follows.  •  With  a  weight  of  fifteen  pounds  per  nautical 
mile,  at  a  depth  of  even  four  miles  the  weight  of  the  sinker  and 
shaft  would  be  as  great  as  that  of  the  wTire  used  in  sounding  to 
that  depth.     Compared  with  hemp  line  it  would  have  no  surface- 

30 


466  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

friction,  and  no  elasticity  on  the  plummet's  touching  the  bottom, 
which  would  in  the  use  of  a  long  hemp  line  be  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  prevent  a  dynamometer  from  indicating  at  once  when  the 
bottom  was  reached,  and  this  difficulty  would  be  greatly  increased 
through  ocean  currents  drifting  bights  of  the  line  here  and  there 
at  various  depths,  and  through  the  slow  descent  of  the  plummet, 
from  the  same  cause.  Then  the  rapid  deterioration  of  the  hemp 
line,  the  great  loss  of  time  necessary  in  making  a  sounding,  and 
the  probable  uncertainty  of  obtaining  a  satisfactory  result  in 
great  depths,  made  it  desirable  that  he  should  not  employ  the 
hemp  line  until  he  had  exhausted  all  reasonable  efforts  at  making 
the  use  of  wire  in  sounding  a  success. 

Very  soon  we  had  a  telegram  from  Belknap,  who  had  made 
very  successful  tentative  soundings  off  the  mouth  of  the  harbor 
of  San  Francisco  in  a  depth  of  eighteen  hundred  fathoms.  To 
the  ability  of  this  officer  is  due  the  successful  employment  of 
wire  from  that  time  on,  notwithstanding  the  minor  difficulties, 
all  of  which  he  overcame  as  they  presented  themselves.  A  year 
or  so  later,  I  received  a  letter  from  Sir  William,  to  whom  we 
were  so  much  indebted,  informing  me  that  he  was  about  design- 
ing another  dynamometer,  as  the  one  he  had  sent  me  was  not  a 
success ;  he,  however,  had  entire  faith  in  wire  instead  of  a  hemp 
line  in  effecting  soundings.  It  was  a  great  gratification  to  me 
to  be  able  to  inform  him  that  what  he  had  sent  us  had  proved 
entirely  successful.  Subsequently  I  sent  him  the  few  modifica- 
tions that  had  been  found  necessary.  In  his  lectures  Sir  William 
was  good  enough  to  state  that  he  had  furnished  his  dynamometer 
to  our  navy,  and  that  his  apparatus  had  been  perfected  by  us. 
The  work  done  by  Belknap  was  a  line  via  the  Sandwich  Islands 
to  the  coast  of  Japan,  and  from  the  coast  of  Japan  to  Paget 
Sound,  by  way  of  the  Aleutian  Islands.  As  supposed  by  me, 
this  chain  of  islands  forms  a  bulkhead,  holding  up  on  its  north- 
ern side  a  great  plateau  of  moderate  depth,  while  south  of  it  the 
sea  is  quite  deep,  and,  so  far  as  known,  the  soundings  are  very 
regular  in  depth.  About  east-southeast  of  the  southeast  cape  of 
Nipon,  the  principal  island  of  Japan,  the  greatest  depth  of  water 
then  known  was  reached, — about  five  and  a  quarter  statute 
miles, — and  a  specimen  of  the  bottom  obtained.     An  attached 


DETERMINING  LONGITUDES  BY  TELEGRAPHY.      4(J7 

thermometer  was  literally  crushed.  At  a  later  period,  one  of  our 
vessels  found  a  small  pocket  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  of  about  the 
same  depth.  Other  nations  subsequently  took  up  the  use  of  the 
apparatus  of  Sir  William,  and,  with  the  various  modifications, 
or  improvements,  made  by  some  of  our  officers  and  perhaps  by 
those  of  other  navies,  it  is  so  effective  and  in  such  general  use 
that  the  bottoms  of  frequented  seas  are  now  fairly  known. 

Belknap  also  ran  an  open  traverse  off  the  coast  from  Puget 
Sound  to  San  Diego  from  shore  soundings  to  what  are  called  by 
scientists  true  ocean  depths, — about  two  thousand  fathoms.  In 
doing  this  work  off  Cape  Mendocino,  he  put  his  plummet  on 
bottom  six  thousand  feet  above  that  of  the  surrounding  water, 
which  was  double  that  depth.  Subsequent  work  led  to  the  sup- 
position that  a  submerged  mountain-range  exists  off  our  west 
coast,  parallel  to  the  mountains  on  the  land. 

This  traverse  along  the  coast  resulted  from  a  visit  of  the  elder 
Agassiz  to  the  Navy  Department  and  his  expressing  a  desire  that 
the  true  continental  outline  of  our  west  coast  should  be  deter- 
mined to  a  depth  of  two  thousand  fathoms.  He  was  informed 
at  the  time  that  it  could  not  be  immediately  carried  out,  but  that 
when  a  favorable  opportunity  occurred  the  work  would  be  done. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

Commodore  Wyman — Determining  Longitudes  by  Telegraphy — Method  of 
Signalling — Lieutenants  Yery  and  Wood — Coast  Defence— Calculations 
of  Weights  and  Displacements — Ram  designed  by  the  Author — Delayed 
on  Political  Grounds — "It  will  come  by  and  by" — Admiral  Tegethoff — 
The  Battle  of  Lissa — Ironclads — Advantages  of  Rams  over  Armored  Ships. 

Commodore  Wyman,  then  Hydrographer,  laid  before  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  a  comprehensive  plan  for  the  determi- 
nation of  longitudes  by  telegraphy.  This  work  had  its  inception 
at  that  time,  and  a  considerable  development  while  I  was  Chief 
of  the  Bureau.  I  shall  not  enter  into  the  amount  of  labor 
involved,  but  it  may  surprise  the  reader  to  learn  that  the  exact 


468  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

longitude  of  Lisbon  was  not  known  when  these  observations 
began  and  was  determined  by  our  parties.  As  a  final  result,  in 
a  verification  of  two  lines  of  many  thousands  of  miles,  I  may 
mention  that  the  line  from  Greenwich,  via  Lisbon,  the  Canary 
Islands,  Rio  Janeiro,  Buenos  Ay  res,  to  Cordova,  in  Tucuman, 
was  connected  with  a  line  from  Greenwich  to  Washington, 
thence  to  the  west  coast  of  America  to  Valparaiso,  and  thence  to 
Cordova.  The  agreement  in  longitude  of  the  two  lines  was 
within  one  yard  in  distance.  When  it  is  borne  in  mind  that 
four  minutes  in  time  correspond  to  a  degree  in  longitude,  the 
result  is  surprising.  Were  this  a  solitary  result,  it  might  be 
considered  accidental,  but  it  is  only  one  of  a  number  of  that 
nature  that  may  well  surprise  the  educated  man.  Now,  although 
the  longitude  of  Cordova,  where  Professor  Gould  connected  these 
two  lines  of  telegraphic  determination,  is  of  no  importance  to  a 
navigator,  it  is  of  great  importance  that  the  coast-lines  of  the 
world  should  be  known,  and  also  that  the  great  observatories 
should  be  connected  with  the  utmost  accuracy  attainable. 

When  I  took  charge  of  the  Bureau,  the  need  of  a  good  signal- 
book  and  a  satisfactory  method  of  night-signalling  was  well 
known,  and  both  these  objects  were  attained  through  the  detail 
of  competent  officers.  Prior  to  that  time,  night-signals  were 
exceedingly  confusing,  and,  until  the  introduction  of  what  is 
known  as  Coston  signals,  were  quite  unreliable.  The  navy  is  in- 
debted to  Lieutenant  Edward  W.  Very,  who  afterwards  resigned, 
for  the  idea  of  using  Roman  candles  in  signalling,  and  to  Lieu- 
tenant M.  W.  Wood,  for  the  employment  of  a  reversible  pistol- 
barrel  in  firing  them,  as  also  for  the  use  of  a  calcium  light  in  a 
lantern  triced  up,  and  for  manipulating  the  signalling  from  the 
deck  by  means  of  india-rubber  tubing,  and  balls  or  cylinders, 
by  which  the  flashes  could  be  readily  and  properly  produced,  so 
as  to  be  as  intelligible  as  any  code  of  signalling. 

Not  being  satisfied  with  the  manner  of  blinding  signals  pro- 
posed by  the  officer  preparing  the  signal-book,  I  took  that 
matter  in  hand  myself,  and,  without  knowing  it  at  the  time, 
adopted  that  of  the  Larrabee  system,  which  cannot  be  ascertained 
by  any  number  of  recorded  observations, — for  the  reason  that  the 
equivalents  represent  first  one  figure  and  then  another.     Should 


CALCULATIONS  OF   WEIGHTS  AND   DISPLACEMENTS.     469 

the  enemy  obtain  the  "blind,"  until  that  fact  was  known  he 
would  of  course  be  able  to  read  the  signals,  but  the  substitution 
of  another  "blind,"  printed  on  paper  of  a  different  color  to 
prevent  mistakes,  would  keep  him  as  much  in  the  dark  as  ever. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  I  have  looked  with  great  con- 
cern upon  our  very  feeble  means  for  the  defence  of  our  coasts. 
During  that  period,  too,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  except  the 
United  States,  have  been  untiring  in  the  construction  of  vessels- 
of-war,  many  of  which  are  of  enormous  size,  armed  with  guns 
of  large  calibre  and  throwing  projectiles  that  seem  of  almost 
fabulous  weight.  Newspaper  reports  state  that  the  heaviest 
guns  made  by  Great  Britain  are  now  regarded  with  distrust, 
and  much  of  the  armor  plating  of  her  vessels-of-war  is  supposed 
to  be  inferior  in  quality.  Should  we  pursue  the  same  line  of 
development  at  any  reasonable  cost  we  should  find  ourselves 
greatly  inferior  to  several  powers,  any  one  of  whom  might  be 
our  adversary. 

The  appendix  of  the  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  of 
1883  contains  a  letter  from  me  on  coast  defence,  which  had  the 
concurrence  of  General  H.  G.  Wright,  then  Chief  of  Engineers. 
A  month  later  General  Sheridan  read  it,  and  was  appreciative 
enough  to  have  it  copied  in  the  archives  of  the  War  Department. 
Military  men  will  agree  with  the  statement  that  a  proper  coast 
defence  requires  a  supplementary  relationship  between  the  land 
and  the  naval  forces. 

Twenty  years  ago  I  made  tentative  calculations  of  weights 
and  displacements  looking  to  the  construction  of  an  armored 
torpedo-boat  with  such  thickness  of  armor,  favored  by  the  best 
practicable  lines  for  deflection,  as  might  give  a  fair  immunity 
from  projectiles.  Little  calculation  sufficed  to  show  that  when 
enough  plating  was  employed,  the  weight  of  the  vessel  would  be 
sufficient  to  make  her  a  formidable  ram,  provided  a  high  speed 
were  given  her.  For  that  reason  I  laid  aside  the  idea  of  an 
armored  torpedo-boat  and  took  up  the  design  for  a  ram,  looking 
to  favorable  lines  for  speed,  facility  of  turning,  and  the  greatest 
practicable  immunity  from  projectiles  with  a  minimum  of  metal, 
through  the  use  of  such  lines  of  deflection  as  were  supposed  prac- 
ticable in  a  vessel  capable  of  going  to  sea  in  heavy  weather. 


470  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

In  1881  I  laid  before  a  Naval  Advisory  Board  calculations, 
plans,  and  specifications  that  had  been  carefully  revised  by  the 
late  John  Lent  hall,  who  had  been  our  ablest  Chief  Naval  Con- 
structor for  a  number  of  years.  In  a  final  report  the  Board 
stated,  — 

"  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Board  that  a  type  of  fast  and  handy 
marine  rams  would  be  especially  valuable  for  such  auxiliary 
defence.  In  determining  the  details  of  such  a  type,  however, 
the  Board  was  obliged  to  act  entirely  upon  its  judgment  with 
regard  to  the  possibilities,  since  experience  with  this  type  of 
vessels  is  entirely  lacking  throughout  the  world.  But  two 
actual  types  of  such  vessels  are  available  on  which  to  base  a 
judgment :  the  first,  a  type  designed  by  Rear- Admiral  Ammen, 
U.  S.  Navy,  whose  correctness  of  details  has  never  been  tested 
by  actual  construction ;  and  the  second,  designs  of  the  British 
ram  Polyphemus,  now  afloat,  and  whose  main  principles  corre- 
spond with  those  of  the  American  ram. 

"  After  mature  consideration,  the  Board  is  of  the  opinion  that 
five  rams  of  the  general  design  proposed  by  Rear-Admiral 
Ammen  should  now  be  built,  that  these  rams  should  be  of  about 
two  thousand  tons'  displacement,  and  that  they  should  be  con- 
structed of  steel." 

But  politics  entered  into  naval  appropriations  at  that  time, 
and,  although  the  construction  of  one  or  more  rams  was  recom- 
mended by  the  Department,  no  attention  was  paid  to  the  subject 
by  the  Naval  Committee  of  the  House,  whose  majority  belonged 
to  the  party  in  opposition  to  the  Administration. 

Some  years  later  I  met  Mr.  Lenthall  on  the  Avenue ;  he  was 
then  in  bad  health,  and  died  soon  after.  He  said,  "  What  about 
the  rams  ?"  I  replied,  "  Nothing  whatever."  "  No  ?"  he  said, 
with  a  faint  smile  :  "  wait ;  they  will  come  by  and  by." 

In  pursuance  of  law,  a  ram  embodying  my  design  is  now 
under  construction  at  Bath,  Maine.  Not  having  heavy  guns, 
the  officer  who  may  command  will  not  be  diverted  from  running 
down  the  enemy.  Provided  amply  with  rapidly-firing  guns, 
the  ram  would  be  able  to  deal  with  several  of  the  best  torpedo- 
boats  that  have  yet  been  constructed,  until  they  are  capable  of 
resisting  rapidly-firing  guns  throwing  twenty-pound  projectiles ; 


ADMIRAL  TEQETHOFF.  471 

such  torpedo-boats  will  have  to  be  carried  "on  their  own 
bottoms,"  and  will  be  difficult  to  maintain  on  the  coasts  of  an 
enemy  provided  with  rams. 

If  we  regard  the  question  of  actual  impregnability  of  con- 
struction against  projectiles  as  the  eventuality,  it  is  apparent 
that  five  rams  can  be  built  at  the  cost  of  two  of  our  battle-ships 
as  now  constructed,  when  fitted  for  sea  with  cost  of  batteries, 
and  that  the  expense  for  maintenance  of  the  five  will  be  less 
than  that  for  one  battle-ship.  The  rams  will  long  outlast  the 
battle-ships,  if  hauled  upon  ways  under  shelter  when  not  in  use. 
Five  rams  would  be  able  to  patrol  our  coast  in  the  face  of  any 
naval  force  that  might  be  sent  against  us,  but  of  course  an  able 
commander  will  always  attack  whenever  the  occasion  is  most 
advantageous  to  him,  and  most  disadvantageous  to  the  enemy. 
When  the  ram  now  building  is  completed  we  shall  be  able  to 
proceed  in  further  constructions  on  several  lines  that  will  make 
the  armored  ship  of  to-day  unable  to  cope  with  her  future 
adversaries.  We  can,  in  my  belief,  protect  ourselves  with  very 
great  economy  against  any  fleets  that  might  have  for  an  object 
the  destruction  of  our  cities  or  the  demand  of  a  ransom.  Rams 
can  be  built  speedily  and  in  any  number  required ;  in  this  they 
are  quite  unlike  battle-ships. 

As  designed,  the  vessel  now  building  has  an  elliptical  keel, 
which  will  give  great  facility  in  turning,  and  also  better  lines 
for  propulsion.  When  she  was  designed  there  were  no  large 
vessels-of-war  known  to  me  with  a  curvature  of  keel.  Now,  I 
believe,  they  are  common,  if  not  indeed  universal.  The  cross- 
sections  are  elliptical,  sponsoned  out  so  as  to  make  good  lines 
for  the  deflection  of  projectiles,  and  sharp  edges,  which  will 
serve  to  rip  out  the  forward  part  of  the  vessel  struck  on  the 
side,  and  crush  in  the  fulcrum,  when  the  vessel  struck  has  head- 
way. The  ram  is  built  on  longitudinal  girders,  and  in  fact,  as 
a  whole,  is  a  well-constructed  girder.  Four  several  calculations 
for  speed  give  a  common  result,  in  every  regard  assuring  as 
compared  with  that  of  any  vessel  of  the  same  displacement  and 
horse-power. 

Not  long  after  the  battle  of  Lissa,  Admiral  TegethoflT,  who 
commanded  the  Austrian  force,  gave  me  a  graphic  account  of  it. 


472  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

His  flag-ship  was  very  slow,  but  coming  down  with  a  fair  wind 
increased  her  ordinary  speed.  In  ramming  the  Re  d'ltalia  he 
actually  ran  through  her ;  the  most  horrible  sight  that  he  ever 
saw,  he  said,  was  the  severed  parts  sinking,  with  hundreds  of 
men  struggling  in  the  water,  most  of  whom  were  drowned. 
Persano,  the  Italian  admiral,  had  left  the  Re"  d'ltalia  at  the 
beginning  of  the  engagement  and  gone  on  board  of  the  Affon- 
datore,  a  vessel  armed  with  two  three-hundred-pounder  casemated 
rifled  guns.  That  vessel  neither  rammed  nor  used  her  battery 
effectively;  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  Persano 
"  fell  between  two  stools," — not  an  uncommon  occurrence.  If 
a  ram  has  no  heavy  gun  there  is  obviously  only  one  thing  for 
the  commander  to  do ;  and  that  fact  cannot  be  forgotten. 

A  critic  in  Colburn's  Magazine  of  September,  1866,  concludes 
his  discussion  of  the  battle  in  these  terms : 

"  If  the  battle  of  Lissa  were  to  be  taken  as  a  criterion  of 
what  guns  can  do  in  an  encounter  between  ironclads,  it  would 
be  worth  considering  whether  it  would  not  be  advisable  to  build 
ironclads  for  the  express  purpose  of  ramming,  and  instead  of 
arming  them  with  guns,  putting  the  metal  on  their  sides,  so  as 
to  render  them  entirely  impregnable  to  shot,  since,  if  destruc- 
tiveness  be  the  desideratum  of  warfare,  it  can  hardly  be  worth 
while  to  send  a  fleet  of  ironclads  to  sea  carrying  five  hundred 
and  thirty-one  guns  for  the  purpose  of  killing  eight  men  and 
wounding  forty." 

This  writer  supposes  that  the  great  weight  of  an  armored 
ship  is  necessary  to  make  an  effective  ram,  when  in  fact  it 
would  lessen  her  effectiveness.  She  could  not  be  handled  with 
the  same  celerity,  which  is  everything  in  ramming. 

A  critic  of  the  ram  proposed  by  me  said  that  all  battle-ships 
had  ram  bows :  he  might  as  well  have  said  that  all  men  who 
carry  swords  are  to  be  considered  equally  effective  in  their  use, 
when  the  sword  is  the  weapon  to  decide  the  combat. 

Armored  ships  have  repeatedly  had  their  sides  crushed  in ; 
the  Re  d'ltalia  was  actually  cut  in  two  and  went  down,  and 
quite  as  readily  as  though  she  had  been  unarmored,  for  the 
reason  that  neither  have  an  effective  backing  nor  an  arch  forma- 
tion, in  which  my  ram  construction  differs.     Besides,  the  curva- 


ADVANTAGES  OF  RAMS  OVER  ARMORED  SHIPS.     473 

ture  of  keel  will  favor  the  fore  or  after  body  pivoting  on  the 
stem  of  the  ram  bows  of  an  armored  vessel  should  she  be 
rammed.  Great  speed  is  doubtless  a  requisite  for  an  effective 
ram,  not,  in  my  belief,  either  to  overtake  or  to  sink  au  enemy, 
but  to  get  rapidly  in  and  out  of  action.  When  an  enemy 
appears  on  a  coast,  a  fleet  of  rams  opposing  armored  ships  has 
as  much  in  its  favor  as  regards  opportunity,  as  an  attempt  to 
supplement  the  defensive  operations  of  a  land  force  by  the  use 
of  battle-ships,  has  of  disadvantage,  especially  over  a  long  line 
of  coast.  A  fleet  of  rams  in  readiness  to  attack  an  armored 
fleet  would  not  have  long  to  wait ;  a  moderately  rough  sea,  a 
fresh  breeze,  with  a  bright  moon,  or  the  early  dawn,  would 
offer  advantages  of  attack  that  would  not  exist  were  it  to  be 
made  by  battle-ships.  A  good  light  is  necessary  to  sight  guns, 
and  very  little  to  run  into  a  vessel ;  the  huge  hulls  would  be 
plainly  in  sight  from  the  rams  a  mile  away,  and  the  latter  would 
be  invisible  until  quite  near.  They  would  have  their  steam  at 
its  best,  and  the  armored  ships  would  have  theirs  as  it  might 
happen.  Nor  could  the  ships  hoist  out  their  torpedo-boats  with 
celerity  and  make  use  of  them  under  such  conditions. 

After  a  ram  attack  would  come  the  opportunity  for  the 
effective  use  of  an  inferior  number  of  battle-ships  and  other 
vessels  acting  as  a  reserve,  capable  of  completing  a  victory  by 
towing  into  port  the  disabled  vessels  of  the  enemy.  With  fleets 
of  rams  of  great  speed  at  various  points,  it  would  be  a  bold  and 
imprudent  enemy  that  would  enter  Long  Island  Sound  or  one 
of  our  bays,  with  the  ship-canals  constructed  as  proposed  in  my 
paper  so  favorably  regarded  by  General  Sheridan.  Let  any  one, 
expert  or  inexpert,  figure  to  himself  the  number  of  battle-ships 
that  would  be  required  to  make  a  fair  defensive  supplement  to 
our  land  forces  from  Maine  to  Texas  on  the  Atlantic,  and  from 
Puget  Sound  to  San  Diego  on  the  Pacific.  When  could  they 
be  completed  ?  what  would  they  cost  ?  and  could  they  be  as 
numerous  at  any  one  point  of  attack  as  a  concentrated  force  of 
the  enemv  ? 


474  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

The  Nicaragua  Canal — Keport  of  the  Commission — President  Hayes  approves 
in  his  Message — M.  de  Lesseps  desires  a  Convocation  of  Engineers  and  Rep- 
resentatives  from  All  Countries  to  meet  in  Paris  and  discuss  the  Isthmian 
Canal  Question — President  Hayes  requests  the  author  to  go  as  Represen- 
tative from  the  United  States — I  prepare  in  Writing  what  I  propose  to  say 
— The  Secretary  of  State  approves  it — Mr.  Menocal  goes  with  me — General 
Grant  consents  to  place  himself  at  the  Head  of  a  Movement  to  construct 
the  Canal — He  is  prevented  from  Action  by  Various  Considerations — A 
Concession  from  the  Nicaraguan  Government — The  Eads  Ship-Railway — 
History  of  Progress  in  obtaining  a  Charter  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  with 
an  Account  of  the  Obstructions,  both  Open  and  Covert — The  Matter  men- 
tioned to  President  Cleveland  and  General  McClellan— The  Ship  Railway 
— General  Remarks  on  an  Isthmian  Canal. 

The  reader  is  already  informed  that  in  1872  I  was  the  junior 
member  of  a  commission  appointed  by  the  President  to  examine 
into  and  report  upon  the  canal  question.  At  that  time  our 
government  had  several  surveying  parties  on  the  Isthmus.  After 
a  lapse  of  nearly  four  years  from  the  time  of  organization,  during 
which  it  formulated  orders  unofficially,  signed  by  the  proper 
authority,  directing  the  surveys  then  in  progress,  the  commission 
made  its  final  report  February  7, 1876,  one  sentence  of  which  is 
as  follows: 

"  That  the  route  known  as  the  '  Nicaragua  route'  possesses,  both  for  the 
construction  and  maintenance  of  a  canal,  greater  advantages,  and  offers 
fewer  difficulties  from  engineering,  commercial,  and  economic  points  of 
view,  than  any  one  of  the  other  routes  shown  to  be  practicable  by  surveys 
sufficiently  in  detail  to  enable  a  judgment  to  be  formed  of  their  relative 
merits,  as  will  be  briefly  presented  in  the  appended  memorandum." 

/     The  Presidential  succession  soon  after  that  time  was  a  disturb- 

/  ing  element,  and  no  action  was  taken  by  General  Grant  during 

/  his  term  of  office,  which  expired  soon  thereafter.     Previous  to 

:   his  going  abroad  he  called  on  President  Hayes  and  urged  action 

"  towards  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  asked  me 

Must  before  leaving  the  United  States  to  remind  the  President 

!of  the  very  great  importance  of   bringing  it  about  under  the 


MR.  MENOCAL   GOES    WITH  ME.  475 

control  and  the  auspices  of  our  government.  No  action,  how-  J 
ever,  was  taken  by  President  Haves.  It  was  a  question  beset 
with  many  difficulties ;  it  had  many  enemies,  honest  and  dis- , 
honest,  many  who  were  covert,  and  many  who  were  outspoken. 
I  have  reason  to  know  that  President  Hayes  fully  appreciated 
the  importance  of  the  question,  and  when  the  time  arrived  for 
giving  the  canal-construction  his  endorsement  it  was  done  in  his 
message  in  the  most  earnest  and  emphatic  manner. 

In  February,  1879,  M.  de  Lesseps  informed  our  government*/ 
that  he  desired  a  convocation  of  engineers  and  representatives  of 
all  nationalities  to  meet  at  Paris  on  the  15th  of  May,  to  discuss 
the  American  Isthmian  Canal  question.  President  Hayes  sent 
for  me  a  month  later  and  said  he  wished  me  to  attend  this  so- 
called  "Congress"  under  instructions  from  the  State  Department. 
After  listening  to  several  reasons  from  me  why  I  should  not  go, 

he  said  that  he  regarded  my  going  as  important  to  our  national 

interests.  I  replied  that  I  had  not  looked  at  it  in  that  light,  and 
that,  in  deference  to  his  wishes,  I  would  at  once  make  my  prep- 
arations to  go.  With  his  permission  I  would  write  out  what  I 
proposed  saying,  on  presenting  the  surveys  that  had  been  made 
by  our  government,  and  would  ask  that  the  Secretary  of  State 
make  modifications  if  he  desired  to  do  so,  and  that  I  hoped  this 
would  receive  his  personal  attention  also ;  then  I  would  feel 
assured  that  nothing  would  be  said  at  the  Paris  Congress  which 
would  incur  the  disapproval  of  the  Executive  department  of  our 
government.  This  proposal  received  his  assent  and  was  carried 
into  effect.  I  write  with  some  degree  of  vanity  that  no  changes 
were  made  in  what  was  submitted  for  revisal.  A  translation  was 
made  into  French,  and  copies  in  both  languages  were  furnished 
to  such  delegates  as  wished  them  when  the  government  surveys 
were  presented  by  me  to  the  Congress.  I  represented  to  the 
President,  also,  the  necessity  of  Mr.  Menocal's  going  to  Paris, 
whether  I  went  or  not.  I  was  not  an  engineer,  as  I  had  stated 
to  him  when  giving  my  reasons  for  not  wishing  to  go  to  Paris ; 
and  even  were  I  capable  of  presenting  the  subject  in  a  technical 
form,  Mr.  Menocal's  presence  would  still  be  necessary,  for  he  had 
made  the  surveys  and  had  local  knowledge  of  both  the  Nicaragua 
and  Panama  routes,  without  which  a  mere  presentation  of  pro- 


476  THE  0LD   NAVF  AND    THE  NEW. 

files,  maps,  plans,  and  estimates  would  be  of  little  value.  The 
President  agreed  to  my  proposition,  and  Civil  Engineer  Menocal, 
of  the  navy,  was  ordered  to  accompany  me.  The  Secretary  of 
State  wrote  our  instructions,  and  we  proceeded  to  Paris,  arriving 
there  just  one  day  in  advance  of  the  sitting.  Soon  after  our 
return,  the  State  Department  published  in  pamphlet  form  "  In- 
structions to  Rear- Admiral  Ammen,"  etc.,  in  which  will  be  found 
our  reports. 
V,  At  this  time  there  are  few  well-informed  persons  who  do  not 
know  that,  clever  as  M.  de  Lesseps  was  as  a  diplomatist,  he 
nevertheless  quite  overreached  himself  in  the  "  Paris  Congress." 
It  was  supposed  that  Mr.  Menocal  and  myself  were  very  much 
chagrined  at  the  decision,  when  it  was,  in  fact,  a  subject  of  gratu- 
lation.  The  decision  in  favor  of  a  sea-level  canal  at  Panama 
was  really  momentous,  and  unfortunate  for  M.  de  Lesseps  and 
his  future  stockholders,  although  that  decision  was  his  own 
procurement  and  brought  about  by  him  with  difficulty.  It  was 
whether  the  French  should  control  the  only  practicable  route, 
which  was  through  Nicaragua,  or  should  waste  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars  in  vain  efforts  to  construct  a  sea-level  canal 
at  Panama.  Lesseps  had  already  secured  a  pre-emption  on  an 
onerous  Panama  canal  concession,  and  that  doubtless  blinded 
him.  Had  he  chosen  Nicaragua,  in  all  probability  at  that  time  he 
could  have  obtained  a  concession,  and  ere  this  would  have  com- 
pleted the  canal  and  his  stockholders  would  have  been  the  envy 
of  the  world.  Even  M.  de  Lesseps  cannot  successfully  "  buck 
against  nature,"  and  that  he  had  to  learn  at  a  cost  of  some 
three  hundred  million  dollars  of  his  too  ignorant  and  credulous 
stockholders. 

On  my  return  from  Paris  I  wrote  an  earnest  letter  to  General 
Grant,  then  in  Japan,  stating  that  it  seemed  to  me  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  our  national  interests  and  welfare  that  we  should 
construct  the  canal,  and  expressing  the  hope  that  he  would  send 
me  a  telegram  without  delay  announcing  his  willingness  to  place 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  movement  to  construct  it.  A  telegram 
of  assent  was  received  by  me,  and  in  due  time  two  letters  from 
him  written  before  he  left  Japan,  expressing  more  fully  his 
intentions  in  relation  to  forwarding,  as  far  as  he  could,  the  con- 


PREVENTED   BY   VARIOUS   CONSIDERATIONS.         477 

struction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  He  arrived  at  San  Francisco 
on  the  -2&th  of  September,  1879,  and  from  that  time  on  was 
beset  by  a  number  of  influences  all  calculated  to  draw  him  away 
from  his  cherished  purpose  of  contributing  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability  to  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  There  is 
but  one  description  of  man  known  to  me  who  may  be  regarded 
as  a  "  free  agent."  It  is  not  the  Czar,  nor  the  emperor  of  any 
land ;  it  is  not  the  banker,  nor  the  railroad  "  magnate,"  nor  the 
farmer  who  is  supposed  to  be  exempt  from  prairie-fires  and  floods 
and  to  reap  his  harvest  independent  of  all  conditions  of  wind 
and  weather,  nor  the  more  humble  tiller  of  the  soil  whose  farm 
lies  on  a  hill-side  embowered  in  fruit-trees  and  vines.  It  is  the 
mildly  insane  man,  whom  nobody  fears,  and  who  walks  around 
bestowing  a  benevolent  smile  on  everybody.  General  Grant  was 
not  a  free  agent ;  the  politicians  said  to  him,  "  Do  not  desert  us 
in  our  extremity  ;"  the  Southern  man  who  had  fought  against 
him  in  a  manly  way  said,  "  Be  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
and  we  will  support  you  ;  we  understand  you  now  ;"  the  banker 
said,  "  General,  don't  have  anything  to  do  with  the  Nicaragua 
Canal ;  you  know  Lesseps  is  all-powerful  in  France  and  will 
certainly  build  the  Panama  Canal ;  you  know  it  is  the  short  route, 
and  nothing  but  a  sea-level  canal  will  satisfy  the  demands  of  com- 
merce;" and  the  railroad  magnates  said,  "If  you  will  only  go 
to  Mexico  and  promote  the  construction  of  international  rail- 
roads, you  will  achieve  the  greatest  possible  good."  He  was 
induced  to  go  to  Mexico,  as  much  to  thwart  the  construction  of  \/ 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  as  to  promote  the  railroad  constructions. 
Previous  to  his  going  to  Mexico,  a  "  railroad  magnate"  assured 
General  Grant  that  very  soon  they  would  carry  wheat  over  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad  and  deliver  it  at  as  cheap  a  rate  in 
Galveston  and  New  Orleans  as  it  could  be  brought  by  water  were 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  completed;  yet  after  all  these  years  we 
see  no  ship's  cargoes  of  wheat  brought  over  this  road  as  promised 
— by  way  of  discouragement.  Need  we  wonder  that  General 
Grant  was  forced  to  succumb  to  the  multiplicity  of  antagonisms  / 
to  his  desire  to  forward  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  ? 
Thus  constrained,  the  general  abandoned  for  the  time  any  in- 
tended active  participation  in  the  project,  although  in  a  note  to 


478  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

me,  written  from  the  island  of  Cuba,  he  approved  of  the  action 
of  General  Beale  of  Washington  and  myself, — namely,  inviting 
a  gentleman  to  form  an  initiatory  society  to  ask  a  concession  from 
the  government  of  Nicaragua.  For  this  purpose  an  agent  was 
sent,  after  considerable  delay,  who  arrived  at  Managua  only  two 
days  in  advance  of  M.  Blanchet.  The  previous  March  this 
gentleman  had  agreed  upon  a  concession  with  the  Executive 
of  Nicaragua,  which  afterwards  failed  of  confirmation  in  their 
Senate  by  only  one  vote.  Had  that  vote  been  cast  the  other 
way,  or  had  not  an  agent  been  sent  by  our  initiatory  society,  we 
should  now  find  the  French  astride  of  the  American  Isthmus  at 
Nicaragua.  At  that  time  M.  Blanchet  was  the  agent  of  M.  de 
Lesseps. 

The  Paris  Canal  Congress,  although  obedient  to  the  behest 
of  M.  de  Lesseps,  was  unsuccessful  in  gaining  a  moneyed  sup- 
port for  the  Panama  Canal,  for  the  reason  that  very  many  able 
French  engineers,  and  among  them  personal  friends  of  Lesseps, 
could  not  see  any  merit  in  the  Panama  sea-level  canal, — in  fact, 
were  keenly  alive  to  its  impracticability.  Failing  in  his  moneyed 
support,  to  set  aside  all  doubt,  as  he  said,  in  relation  to  the  Pan- 
ama sea-level  canal,  M.  de  Lesseps  announced  that  he  would  set 
out  in  November  for  Panama,  "see  for  himself,"  and  then  be 
able  to  inform  the  French  people  just  what  the  canal  would 
cost.  On  his  arrival  at  Panama  he  stated  that  the  floods  of  the 
Chagres  River  were  not  an  impediment,  that  the  country  was 
quite  healthy,  and  that  the  facilities  for  constructing  the  canal 
were  so  satisfactory  that  he  was  enabled  greatly  to  reduce  the 
estimates  of  the  Paris  Canal  Congress.  He  presented  his  views 
in  the  North  American  Review  of  January,  1830,  and  had  this 
paper  quoted  and  widely  circulated  in  France.  He  had  the 
temerity  to  write,  "  I  do  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  the  Panama 
Canal  will  be  easier  to  begin,  to  finish,  and  to  maintain,  than  the 
canal  of  Suez." 

Soon  after  my  return  from  the  Paris  Canal  Congress,  the 
editor  of  the  North  American  Review  requested  me  to  write  a 
paper  on  the  Congress,  which  I  declined,  stating  that  I  had  a 
report  to  make  to  the  State  Department,  and  did  not  intend  to 
write  further  in  relation  to  it.    In  December  the  editor  informed 


THE  EADS  SHIP-RAILWAY.  479 

me  that  M.  de  Lesseps  would  have  a  paper  in  the  coming  num- 
ber, which  he  felt  assured  would  be  at  variance  with  my  ideas 
in  relation  to  the  Panama  Canal,  and  wished  to  know  whether, 
if  advance  proof-sheets  were  sent  me,  I  would  be  willing  to  pre- 
sent my  ideas.  I  assented,  and  should  the  reader  be  interested 
he  will  find  in  the  number  of  that  magazine  for  February,  1880, 
what  I  wrote  on  that  subject.  More  than  ten  years  have  passed, 
and  the  lapse  of  time  has  established  the  truth  of  what  I  then 
and  there  asserted. 

Captain  Eads,  not  an  engineer,  except  in  the  popular  esti- 
mation, had  settled  upon  the  practicability  of  the  Tehuantepec 
ship-railway,  and  on  the  occasion  of  General  Grant's  visit  to 
Mexico,  accompanied  him  with  Mr.  Jesse  Grant,  the  youngest  son 
of  the  general,  who  the  captain  had  discovered  was  remarkable 
in  his  talent  for  engineering,  and  in  consequence  he  had  made 
him  an  associate.  Under  such  favorable  auspices  in  Mexico, 
Captain  Eads  could  not  fail  to  obtain  a  concession,  though 
coupled  with  much  that  was  uninviting.  He  and  his  associates 
were  guaranteed  all  the  rights  of  Mexican  citizens,  but  were 
denied  the  right  to  appeal  to  their  minister  for  any  supposed 
violation  of  their  rights  guaranteed  by  the  concession.  At  the 
same  time  that  Captain  Eads  was  in  Mexico  and  M.  de  Lesseps 
at  Panama,  an  agent  of  the  association  that  General  E.  F.  Beale 
and  myself  had  initiated  obtained  an  excellent  concession  for  . 
the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

The  following  winter  (1880-81)  the  initiatory  society  had 
filed  its  concession  in  the  State  Department,  published  the  full 
text  of  the  concession,  and  asked  of  Congress  simply  an  act  of— 
incorporation. 

A  favorable  report  on  this  act  of  incorporation,  without  pro- 
posing any  subsidies  or  guarantees  of  any  character,  was  not 
made  until  the  "  Special  Committee"  was  supposed  to  be  willing 
to  report  the  Eads  ship-railway  bill  favorably  also,  with  an 
attached  guarantee  of  fifty  million  dollars. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  session  when  these  conditions 
were  supposed  to  exist.  When  the  chairman  reported  the  bill 
to  incorporate  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Company  it  was  received 
without  dissent;  but  when  he  attempted  to   report  the  Eads 


480  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

ship-railway  bill  with  a  munificent  subsidy  a  storm  of  indigna- 
tion arose  that  was  only  quieted  when,  at  the  motion  of  the 
Honorable  8.  S.  Cox,  the  bill  was  tabled. 

This  action  of  the  House  on  the  Eads  bill  caused  him  to  act 
^covertly  for  years,  but  he  was  none  the  less  inimical  and  obstruc- 
tive in  preventing  the  incorporation  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal 
(Company,  and  equally  covert  and  intent  on  the  same  object  was 
ft  the  munificently  endowed  American  Panama  Canal  Syndicate, 
with  its  two  and  a  half  millions  of  francs  yearly  for  five  years, 
"  to  preserve  American  neutrality."     These  and  other  influences 
that  I  shall  not  name  were  effective  in  preventing  the  bill  for 
the  incorporation  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Company  from  being 
brought  up  in  the  House, — an  easy  matter  at  that  time. 

In  the  mean  time,  M.  de  Lesseps  was  gaining  his  experience 
from  the  operations  at  Panama,  and  the  conviction  was  forced 
upon  him,  or  upon  others  whose  opinions  had  weight  with  him, 
that  the  engineering  difficulties  at  Panama  were  far  more  for- 
midable than  had  been  anticipated  in  making  a  canal,  whether 
at  the  level  of  the  sea  or  with  any  lockage  that  might  be  pro- 
posed. Then  we  find  M.  Blanchet  in  Nicaragua  again,  of  whom 
mention  has  been  made  before  as  an  emissary  of  Lesseps  in 
Nicaragua.  He  was  wandering  around,  und  descanting  in  the 
Nicaraguan  newspapers  upon  the  advantage  of  joining  Lakes 
Nicaragua  and  Managua  by  a  canal  following  the  bed  of  a  small 
stream  which  at  rare  intervals  empties  a  slight  surplusage  of 
Managua  into  the  other  lake,  lying  at  a  level  of  about  fifteen 
feet  below  it.  In  the  newspapers  sent  me  I  read  his  glowing 
presentations  of  the  practicability  of  this  canal  between  the 
lakes,  promising  that  ere  long  he  would  open  to  their  view  a 
.more  extended  prospect.  He  was  hinting  at  what  he  would 
(propose  after  the  expiration  of  the  concession  held  by  the  Amer- 
ican initiatory  association  of  which  mention  has  been  made; 
then  he  would  propose  again  the  project  of  the  canal  from  sea 
to  sea,  which,  as  the  reader  is  aware,  had  been  agreed  upon  with 
him  in  March,  1879,  and  came  within  one  vote  of  confirma- 
tion in  the  Senate  of  Nicaragua.  I  translated  these  published 
writings  of  Blanchet  and  took  them  to  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  who 
sent  for  Captain  Phelps,  then  President  of  the  Association  hold- 


THE  EADS  SHIP-RAILWAY.  481 

ing  the  concession.  As  its  duration  was  brief,  action  was  taken 
by  sending  Commander  Lull,  of  the  navy,  to  Nicaragua.  He 
had  charge  of  the  parties  when  the  government  surveys  were 
made,  and  was  favorably  known  j  he  secured  a  considerable  ex- 
tension of  time  for  the  concession,  much  to  the  gratification  of 
Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  but  which,  unhappily,  he  did  not  know  how 
to  utilize. 

There  were  many  reasons  at  that  time  for  my  belief  that  M. 
Blanchet  was  in  Nicaragua  as  a  covert  agent  of  M.  de  Lessepsv 
After  Lull  had  gained  his  point  M.  Blanchet  lefl  Nicaragua. 
Had  Lull  been  unsuccessful  and  the  concession  expired,  M.  de  Les- 
seps  would  probably  have  come  out  in  the  role  of  a  conciliating 
diplomatist,  and  perhaps  would  have  said,  "  The  Americans  have 
a  prejudice  in  favor  of  a  lock-canal ;  but  they  don't  know  how 
to  make  canals.  We  will  make  a  lock-canal  to  gratify  them.  . 
For  the  present  we  will  suspend  our  operations  at  Panama,  and 
will  make  the  canal  by  way  of  Lake  Nicaragua.  It  will  pay 
very  well,  and  with  a  part  of  the  proceeds  from  the  tolls  received, 
which  will  be  large,  and  from  our  other  resources,  we  will  then 
complete  our  grand  sea-level  canal  at  Panama."  But  never 
afterwards  would  any  work  have  been  done  at  Panama,  simply 
because  the  engineers  on  the  work  had  learned,  after  some  years 
of  labor  and  a  large  expenditure  of  money,  that  all  their  efforts 
to  make  a  sea-level  canal  would  be  futile,  and  that  a  lock-canal 
there  would  cost  several  times  the  amount  that  it  would  at 
Nicaragua,  aud  besides,  would  be  far  inferior  in  every  respect. 

No  sooner  had  Lull  obtained  an  extension  of  time  than 
Frelinghuysen  became  importunate  for  the  Association  to  make  \ 
a  transfer  of  the  concession  to  the  government,  notwithstanding"' 
the  fact  was  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  attempt  to  do  so  would 
work  its  forfeiture  by  its  own  terms.  Then  he  set  about  bully- 
ing the  Nicaraguan  government  as  to  that,  and  proposed  enter- 
ing into  a  treaty  to  construct  the  canal  in  the  joint  interests  of 
the  two  peoples,  and  to  the  exclusion  of  other  nationalities, 
which  the  Nicaraguan  government  would  not  listen  to  for  a 
moment.  He  then  awaited  the  expiration  of  the  concession  to 
the  Association,  with  the  view  of  making  a  treaty  with  Nica- 
ragua for  the  construction  of  the  canal,  and  a  special  Envoy  was 

31 


482  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

sent  by  that  government,  an  Ex-President  of  that  republic, 
General  Zavala,  a  gentleman  of  marked  ability  and  character, 
and,  as  is  well  known,  a  treaty  was  negotiated  empowering  our 
government  to  construct  the  canal.  This  treaty  was  confirmed 
by  the  Legislative  authorities  of  Nicaragua,  and  was  withdrawn 
from  onr  Senate,  after  the  inauguration  of  President  Cleveland, 
for  further  consideration,  and  never  placed  before  that  body 
again,  when  the  fact  was  well  known  at  that  time  that  had  it 
remained  before  the  Senate  it  would  have  been  confirmed  by  a 
three-fourths  vote  of  that  body. 

In  the  belief  of  Captain  Eads,  a  promising  future  was  opened 
up  to  him  by  the  inauguration  of  President  Cleveland.  His 
assistant,  Civil  Engineer  Corthell,  went  over  the  whole  country 
delivering  a  lecture  which  he  called  the  "Scientific  Solution 
of  the  Inter-oceanic  Problem,"  and  doubtless  demonstrated  to 
many  persons,  by  means  of  a  stereopticon,  the  great  ease,  safety, 
speed,  and  economy  with  which  a  great  ship  and  cargo  could  be 
taken  out  of  the  water  and  carried  across  what  he  called  "  the 
easy  grades  of  Tehuantepec,"  which  on  the  south  face  are  more 
than  one  hundred  feet  per  mile  for  more  than  five  consecutive 
miles.  He  neither  made  any  allusion  to  the  elevation  to  be 
passed  over,  or  troubled  himself  with  presenting  a  profile. 
There  was  an  audacity  in  this  which  I  suppose  grew  out  of 
Captain  Eads's  having  convinced  persons  in  authority  of  the 
great  superiority  of  the  plan  of  taking  a  ship  on  wheels  and 
carrying  her  over  five  times  the  elevation  and  five  times  the 
linear  distance  of  the  prism  required  in  the  construction  of  the 
Nicaragua  Canal,  besides  encountering  many  other  difficulties 
which  I  shall  not  now  mention,  having  detailed  them  in  two 
pamphlets  published  by  me.  Captain  Eads  was  a  man  of  rare 
plausibility ;  yet,  with  the  surveys  of  Nicaragua  just  then  exe- 
cuted showing  a  superior  location,  as  he  found  out  in  time,  he 
had  taken  up  a  heavier  load  than  he  was  able  to  carry. 

Two  months  after  the  inauguration  of  President  Cleveland  I 
was  one  of  more  than  a  hundred  callers  who  in  our  turns  passed 
before  him.  I  stated  briefly  the  object  of  my  visit ;  for  more 
than  twenty  years  I  had  felt  an  interest  in  the  Isthmian  transit 
question,  and  I  was  the  only  living  member  of  a  commission 


THE  SHIP-RAILWAY.  483 

that  had  been  appointed  by  President  Grant  in  1872  to  examine 
into  and  report  upon  that  question,  which  was  done  in  1876, 
after  nearly  four  years  of  patient  examination,  based  on  accurate 
information,  since  which  time,  through  further  surveys,  a  much 
more  advantageous  location  had  been  determined  upon.  I  had 
been  sent  by  President  Hayes  in  1879  to  the  Paris  Canal  Con- 
gress, and  had  ever  since  been  in  controversy  with  different 
parties.  I  held  myself  at  his  service  at  any  time  he  might 
appoint,  and  thought  that  in  an  hour's  time  I  might  be  able  to 
give  him  all  the  information  essential  to  making  an  intelligent 
study  of  the  subject.  The  President  smiled  benevolently,  and 
said  that  really  he  "  found  himself  so  occupied  that  until  he  had 
had  his  outing  and  returned  to  the  city  he  would  not  be  able  to 
see  me."  I  had  been  in  correspondence  with  General  McClellan 
on  this  subject ;  for  years  he  had  kept  himself  informed  in  rela- 
tion to  all  Isthmian  surveys  as  they  progressed. 

Not  long  after  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  had  obtained  for  our  gov- 
ernment, by  treaty  with  Nicaragua,  the  right  to  construct  the 
Nicaragua  Canal,  he  had  sent  Mr.  Menocal  to  make  further 
examinations  of  part  of  a  new  location  previously  supposed 
practicable,  but  the  practicability  of  which  could  not  be  absolutely 
assured  until  every  foot  of  the  route  had  been  examined  properly 
with  instruments  of  precision.  The  supporters  of  Captain  Eads  V^ 
in  the  Senate  violently  opposed  allowing  this  further  location  of 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  to  be  made,  but  their  number  was  insig- 
nificant, and  it  was  made,  giving  the  route  a  distinctive  feature 
ofclevelopment,  one  of  free  navigation  from  sea  to  sea,  with 
the  exception  of  some  twenty-eight  miles  of  canal  prism  actu- 
ally required,  half  of  which  distance  can  be  dug  by  dredging- 
machines  without  any  impediment. 

General  McClellan  and  Colonel  John  G.  Stevens,  of  Trenton, 
New  Jersey,  then  President  and  Chief  Engineer  of  the  New 
Jersey  Eailroad  and  Canal  Company,  made  an  appointment 
to  come  to  Washington  to  examine  the  recent  surveys.  Un- 
fortunately, the  business  affairs  of  General  McClellan  compelled 
him  to  go  to  Boston  at  the  time  appointed  :  he  telegraphed 
to  Stevens  to  go  to  Washington,  and  he  would  follow  at  the 
earliest  opportunity.     Colonel  Stevens  came  to  Washington,  and 


/ 


484  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW: 

examined  the  data  very  carefully.  They  were  entirely  satisfac- 
tory to  him,  the  more  especially  as  an  interior  valley  parallel  to 
the  left  bank  of  the  San  Juan  River  and  above  the  proposed 
dam  at  Ochoa  would  actually  become  a  part  of  the  free  naviga- 
tion in  the  transit  of  vessels,  thus  greatly  lesseniug  the  amount 
of  excavation  required  in  construction.  He  then  accompanied 
one  of  the  ablest  Democratic  Senators  to  see  the  President,  and 
stated  clearly  his  ideas  :  he  offered  to  make  a  technical  exposition 
of  the  canal  as  located,  and  send  it  to  the  President,  which  pro- 
posal was  accepted  with  thanks.  A  fortnight  later  I  Avrote  to 
General  McClellan  suggesting  that  he  should  either  write  me  or 
send  me  a  telegram  the  day  before  he  proposed  coming  to  Wash- 
ington, in  order  that  he  might  be  subjected  to  no  delay  in  making 
his  examinations  of  the  surveys.  The  following  morning  I  was 
shocked  at  learning  of  the  sudden  death  of  the  general  at  his 
home,  from  either  heart-disease  or  apoplexy. 

Two  or  three  weeks  later,  General  William  B.  Franklin,  who 
was  the  intimate  personal  friend  of  General  McClellan,  and  had 
likewise  a  very  full  knowledge  of  Isthmian  surveys,  was  in 
Washington.  He  was  good  enough  to  make  a  thorough  exami- 
nation of  the  new  location,  and,  after  satisfying  himself  fully  in 
relation  to  its  many  advantages,  went  to  see  the  President  with 
the  same  Democratic  Senator  that  had  accompanied  Colonel 
Stevens.  As  we  neared  the  White  House  I  wished  to  take  my 
leave,  but  both  the  Senator  and  the  general  insisted  on  my  going 
with  them.  When  we  saw  the  President  the  general  spoke  very 
emphatically  and  earnestly  upon  the  subject ;  no  doubt  existed 
in  his  mind  as  to  the  very  favorable  conditions  that  assured  the 
success  of  the  canal  on  a  commercial  and  very  remunerative  basis. 
The  President  appeared  to  listen  with  attention,  but  it  was  evident 
to  me  that  what  entered  one  ear  passed  at  once  out  of  the  other. 
Two  weeks  later  his  first  annual  message  appeared.  It  con- 
tained a  brief  mention  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  but  not  one  word 
of  comment  as  to  its  practicability,  notwithstanding  the  expres- 
sions of  Franklin  and  Stevens  above  referred  to,  and  this  was 
followed  by  a  very  favorable  expression  of  opinion  as  to  the 
practicability  of  the  Eads  ship-railway,  which  was  supposed  to 
ave  satisfactory  endorsements  by  experts  and  men  of  science. 


THE  SHIP-RAILWAY.  485 

In  reply  to  a  letter  from  me,  I  had  one  of  some  length  from 
John  Bourne,  of  London,  so  well  known  the  world  over  that  it 
seems  superfluous  to  say  he  has  no  superior  in  Great  Britain  on 
such  subjects.  He  regarded  the  ship-railway  proposed  at  Te- 
huantepec  as  entirely  impracticable,  even  had  the  conditions  been 
far  more  favorable  for  construction  than  they  were  known  to  be. 
This  letter  was  not  received  by  me  in  time  for  publication  in  a 
pamphlet  containing  many  letters  from  eminent  practical  men, 
all  of  whom  regarded  the  ship-railway  as  wholly  impracticable. 

In  the  Cosmopolitan  for  July,  1890, 1  have  seen  the  plan  of  a 
ship-railway  now  under  construction  in  Nova  Scotia,  the  condi- 
tions for  which  are  very  favorable  as  to  grades  and  general  solidity 
of  land,  with  a  promise  of  completion  in  the  early  part  of  1892. 
The  platform  is  to  be  placed  upon  two  hundred  and  fifty  wheels, 
similar,  as  far  as  shown,  to  ordinary  car-wheels.  An  observer 
might  regard  every  wheel  as  a  pedestal,  when  in  fact  it  is  simply 
a  tangent  that  will  bear  an  equal  weight  upon  an  imaginary 
perfectly  level  road-bed,  an  utter  impracticability  if  it  is  to  ex- 
tend over  miles  of  distance  and  to  be  subject  to  all  the  conditions 
of  rainfall  and  atmospheric  changes.  Should  the  outer  rails  be 
but  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  too  high,  and  the  inner  ones  that 
much  too  low,  very  insignificant  differences  in  such  constructions, 
it  needs  no  scientist  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  outer  wheels 
would  bear  the  weight  and  the  inner  ones  would  not  touch  the 
rails.  The  same  conditions  of  contact  or  suspension  of  wheels 
would  obtain  when  considered  longitudinally.  We  read  of 
"  springs  and  rams  to  equalize  weights"  in  such  cases,  and  in  a 
year  or  so  we  will  see  how  they  do  their  work.  It  is  with  much 
pleasure  that  I  see  others  than  my  countrymen  trying  this  plan 
of  transportation.  The  failure  of  this  project  under  such  favor- 
able physical  conditions  would  demonstrate  how  visionary  is  the 
idea  of  the  railway  across  Tehuantepec  if  intended  for  the  trans- 
portation of  ships.  There  is  an  immense  difference  between  the 
transportation  of  weights,  considered  distinctly,  and  the  trans- 
portation of  a  mass  of  great  weight,  as  is  clearly  shown  by  that 
distinguished  bridge- and  railroad-builder,  the  late  "W.  W.  Evans, 
in  a  letter  written  to  me  and  published  in  one  of  my  pamphlets. 

During  that  winter  Captain  Eads  was  permitted  to  place  on 


486  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

exhibition  in  the  basement  of  the  Capitol  what  he  called  his 
model  of  the  Tehuan tepee  Ship-Railway.  It  was  a  lifting-dock, 
no  doubt  well  fitted  to  place  a  vessel  on  a  cradle  and  raise  her  to 
the  level  of  a  railway,  but  there  was  nothing  of  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  of  railway  to  be  built,  for  a  good  many  miles 
over  a  low  swampy  region,  where,  as  Corthell  said  in  his  "  Solu- 
tion," a  good  solid  road-bed  would  have  to  be  made  of  at  least 
two  feet  of  broken  stone.  Had  there  been  a  model  of  the  route, 
there  would  have  been  up  and  down  grades,  and  steep  ones  at 
that,  and  cuts  such  as  have  never  been  made  in  railroading,  and 
several  "  turn-tables"  to  change  the  course  of  the  ship,  as  there 
were  to  be  no  curves,  and,  the  summit  having  been  reached,  the 
steep  grades  on  the  southern  slope  of  more  than  one  hundred  feet 
per  mile,  already  mentioned. 

Captain  Eads  brought  forward  Sir  Edward  Reed,  for  a  time 
the  architect  of  the  British  navy,  and  the  designer  of  the  Auda- 
cious class  of  armored  ships,  which  when  grounded  on  a  smooth 
bottom,  if  left  a  foot  or  two  below  the  line  of  flotation  by  a  fall- 
ing tide,  would  suffer  a  breaking  of  bracket-plates  or  other  injury 
to  their  frames.  Years  before,  he  had  stated  before  a  Parlia- 
mentary commission  that  many  merchant-ships  with  cargoes 
when  grounded  in  the  Clyde  or  the  Mersey  would  be  greatly 
injured  almost  as  soon  as  they  were  no  longer  fully  water-borne. 
Now  he  came  prepared  to  say  that  the  Eads  ship-railway  was 
just  the  thing  to  carry  them  from  sea  to  sea ;  but  the  ideal  vessel 
for  such  a  transit  he  described  as  follows : 

"I  should  say,  as  an  American,  if  our  ships  are  not  adapted 
for  this  purpose  at  present,  let  them  be  made  so,  because  the 
great  problem  you  have  to  deal  with  is  to  transport  this  easily 
carried  produce  of  grain  ;  I  would  say,  fling  away  for  a  moment 
the  idea  of  a  ship,  and  make  a  floating  grain-car  which  you  can 
take  over  a  railroad ;  regard  it  simply  as  a  big  car  for  carrying 
grain  ;  make  it  as  strong  as  you  like  for  railway  purposes ;  make 
it  whatever  shape  you  like  for  railway  purposes ;  and  when  you 
have  quite  satisfied  yourself  that  you  can  carry  your  own  grain 
in  your  own  cars  across  the  Isthmus,  then  I  will  undertake  to 
make  that  go  as  a  ship  to  California  on  the  one  side  or  to  New 
York  on  the  other." 


THE  SHIP-RAILWAY.  487 

Such  vessels  as  Sir  Edward  proposed  for  us  to  navigate  the 
ship-railway  would  certainly  not  compete  with  British  bottoms 
on  the  high  seas. 

I  examined  Captain  Eads's  bill  for  the  incorporation  of  the 
ship-railway  company,  and  found  it  marvellously  framed.  Its 
provisions  would  give  him  and  his  associates  ample  reward  with- 
out other  act  on  his  part  than  carrying  a  ship  and  cargo  having  a 
dead  weight  of  three  thousand  tons  from  sea  to  sea.  Indeed,  this 
would  not  have  to  be  done  to  secure  them  great  benefits,  as  the 
sections  were  pronounced  acceptable  for  transit,  which  included 
a  considerable  distance  of  supposed  improved  river  navigation, 
and  perhaps,  on  the  west  coast,  of  lagoon  navigation.  I  reviewed 
CorthelFs  "  Scientific  Solution"  and  Captain  Eads's  bill  in  a 
small  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Certainty  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal 
contrasted  with  the  Uncertainties  of  the  Eads  Ship-Railway." 
He  proposed  a  series  of  guarantees  operative  in  sections  as  they 
should  be  accepted  by  government  inspectors,  amounting  to  a 
total  of  thirty-seven  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the 
entire  amount  conditioned  upon  transporting  the  vessel  as  above 
from  sea  to  sea,  the  natural  and  intended  inference  being  that 
other  vessels  engaged  in  traffic  would  necessarily  present  them- 
selves for  transit.  Fifty  per  cent,  was  proposed  as  the  working 
expenses  of  the  railway  for  the  transportation  of  ships.  I  pro- 
posed in  lieu  of  guarantee  that  our  government  should  pay  on 
all  vessels  under  our  flag,  having  a  dead  weight  of  two  thousand 
five  hundred  tons  or  more,  as  a  bonus,  an  amount  equal  to  the 
toll-rate  paid  by  the  vessel,  until  the  railway  should  have  re- 
ceived thirty-seven  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Of 
course  this  did  not  suit  Captain  Eads  and  his  associates.  I  stated 
that  four  years  earlier  I  had  read  to  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of 
Georgia,  a  letter  of  General  Grant  to  Captain  Eads,  dated  Jan- 
uary 13,  1882.  Stephens  at  once  said,  "  Now  I  understand  it  all. 
Captain  Eads  would,  under  his  bill,  construct  his  ship-railway 
without  any  cost, — nay,  with  a  very  considerable  endowment, — 
and  then,  without  ever  attempting,  or  indeed  intending,  to  pass 
a  ship  from  sea  to  sea,  have  several  lines  of  railway  and  harbors 
for  small  vessels  and  a  very  profitable  traffic  in  grain  and  other 
merchandise." 


488  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

The  following  is  a  paragraph  from  General  Grant's  letter 
above  referred  to  : 

"  But  I  now  have  your  bill  No.  430  before  me,  and  its  pro- 
visions are  so  entirely  at  variance  from  what  I  had  been  led  to 
suppose  you  intended  to  ask,  that  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  notify 
you  that  I  shall  oppose  it  in  its  present  form  with  all  my  ability. 
I  do  this  because  I  feel  that  I  have  been  deceived  as  to  what 
you  intended  to  ask,  and  also  believe  that  if  your  present  bill 
passes  the  government  will  be  made  responsible  for  six  per  cent, 
interest  upon  a  large  bonded  indebtedness  even  should  your 
enterprise  prove  a  total  failure." 

In  a  pamphlet  published  by  Corthell  and  Eads  in  relation  to 
my  pamphlet,  a  memorandum  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jesse  R.  Grant 
is  given,  from  which  I  quote  a  paragraph  : 

"  I  regret  it  [the  publication  of  General  Grant's  letter]  be- 
cause, having  assured  me  in  his  last  letter  that  he  would  throw 
no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  my  measure,  this  use  of  his  name 
by  Admiral  Ammen  keeps  in  its  way  the  most  serious  obstacle 
which  it  has  to  encounter,  and  furnishes  to  Ammen  the  only 
possible  means  with  which  he  can  hope  to  defeat  my  bill.  He 
totally  disregards  the  advice  of  your  father,  and  is  determined 
to  use  his  name  as  long  as  he  will  permit  it." 

On  page  48  of  Eads's  pamphlet  is  a  letter  from  himself  to 
General  Grant,  from  which  I  quote : 

"  Will  you  kindly  advise  me  by  early  mail  whether,  if  the 

bill    BE    AMENDED    IN    ACCORDANCE    WITH    THE    SUGGESTIONS 

herein  contained,  you  will  not  be  willing  to  withdraw  all 
opposition  to  it  ?" 

This  letter  is  followed  by  the  assertion  that  General  Grant 
had  written  to  Senator  Miller  explaining  his  [the  general's] 
error  in  relation  to  the  bill  he  criticised,  and  the  statement  that 
I  necessarily  knew  of  this  letter  and  of  General  Grant's  reply, 
which  he  does  not  produce.  I  have  never  heard  of  either  of 
these  letters,  save  through  the  publication  of  Captain  Eads.  It 
was  found  convenient  to  consider  my  pamphlet  so  grossly  per- 
sonal as  to  be  unworthy  of  reply  on  the  several  points  of  objec- 
tion that  I  presented, — though  I  had  made  use  of  no  personality 
whatever.     Nor  did  they  believe  one  word  that  I  attributed  to 


GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  AN  ISTHMIAN  CANAL.       489 

Mr.  Stephens.  All  this,  however,  gave  me  little  concern.  I  was 
held  as  an  "  ingrate"  because  I  totally  disregarded  the  advice  of 
General  Grant,  who  they  asserted  was  my  "  benefactor." 

While  indifferent  to  the  contents  of  their  pamphlet  so  far  as 
it  related  to  myself,  I  was  not  willing  that  mis-statements  in 
relation  to  the  actual  location  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  should  go 
uncontradicted,  and  therefore  at  my  leisure  published  another 
pamphlet,  entitled  "The  Errors  and  Fallacies  of  the  Inter- 
Oceanic  Transit  Question  :  to  whom  do  they  belong  ?"  In  this 
pamphlet  will  be  found  an  exposure  of  these  mis-statements, 
and  an  explanation  of  the  character  of  the  opposition  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  These  pamphlets  were  sent 
to  many  public  libraries  and  given  a  wide  publicity.  A  few 
months  later  I  received  a  letter  from  President  Cardenas,  of 
Nicaragua,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  them,  and  thanking 
me  for  the  interest  I  took  in  the  canal,  as  he  was  aware  I  had 
no  private  interests  in  connection  with  it.  He  stated  that  the 
Minister  of  Hacienda  had  forwarded  me  a  bill  of  credit  for  five 
hundred  dollars  to  meet  my  expenditures,  and  said  that  if  more 
was  required  I  was  to  let  him  know  and  he  would  see  that  they 
were  covered.  In  my  reply  I  stated  that  I  was  unwilling  to 
take  a  dollar  out  of  the  treasury  of  Nicaragua,  but  would  have 
no  objection  to  a  "repayment  of  the  money  spent  by  me,  in  gov- 
ernment lands  on  the  island  of  Ometepe  at  their  market  value. 
My  expenses  had  not  yet  reached  five  hundred  dollars,  but  I 
supposed  it  likely  that  they  would  do  so  before  my  discussion 
ended.  I  tore  the  signature  from  the  bill  of  credit  and  respect- 
fully returned  it  to  the  Minister  of  Hacienda,  with  a  letter  of 
explanation  as  to  my  motives  in  doing  so.  I  was  not  willing 
that  a  futile  attempt  at  the  construction  of  a  ship-railway  should 
throw  the  Nicaragua  Canal  construction  into  European  hands, 
to  our  great  humiliation  as  a  people, — that  we  should  grasp  at 
shadow  and  lose  the  substance. 

In  February,  1887,  Eads,  with  his  associates,  was  active  in 
endeavoring  to  prevent  the  granting  to  our  citizens  of  an  act  of 
incorporation  to  construct  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  for  which  at  the 
time  they  had  only  a  promise  of  a  concession,  and,  aided  by  other 
hostile  influences,  he  was  successful.     The  captain  was  much 


490  THE  0LD  XAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

disappointed  at  meeting  no  opposition  to  the  passage  of  an  act 
of  incorporation  for  his  ship-railway  shorn  of  any  guarantee 
of  bonds,  but  in  defeating  the  passage  of  the  Nicaragua  bill 
'his  own  was  not  brought  up.  From  1881  until  the  collapse 
of  the  Panama  Canal  project,  the  American  syndicate,  endowed 
with  an  annuity  of  a  half  million  of  dollars  for  five  years,  was 
active  in  preserving  "American  neutrality."  In  February,  1887, 
M.  Coln6,  the  secretary  of  that  disreputable  "  combine,"  was 
in  Washington,  doubtless  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the  act 
of  incorporation  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Company;  he  then 
published  a  telegram  from  M.  de  Lesseps,  who  "  hoped  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  would  be  made ;  the  water  being  fresh,  would 
serve  for  irrigation,  but  no  vessel  would  ever  pass  through  it." 
Months,  if  not  years,  before,  Lesseps  had  abandoned  the  sea- 
level  canal  plan  as  hopeless,  and  considered  favorably  a  "  plan" 
for  pumping  water  up  thirty-three  feet  to  the  proposed  summit, 
some  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  sea-level.  He  set 
out  with  the  erroneous  idea  that  nothing  but  a  sea-level  canal 
would  serve  the  traffic  of  the  world  ;  he  ended  with  the  absurd- 
ity of  proposing  to  pump  up  water  thirty-three  feet  to  the  sum- 
mit, one-half  higher  above  the  sea  than  the  proposed  summit  of 
the  Nicaragua  Canal ! 

Notwithstanding  all  the  powerful  influences  that  have  stood 
in  the  way  of  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  the 
consequent  delays,  the  continued  surveys  have  made  the  project 
of  its  development  highly  satisfactory. 

No  water-way  on  the  globe  is  so  munificently  supplied  with  a 
constant  water-level  or  so  well  protected  against  the  damaging 
effects  of  floods,  through  weirs  to  discharge  the  surplusage,  and 
all  this,  too,  will  be  effected  with  a  greatly  reduced  cost  in  con- 
struction. The  canal  prism  is  reduced  by  these  means  to  a 
length  of  less  than  twenty-eight  miles,  one-half  or  even  more 
of  which  can  be  dug  by  dredging-machines.  This  admirable 
location  has  been  secured  by  the  untiring  efforts  of  Civil  Engi- 
neer Menocal  and  his  assistants.  In  order  to  perfect  it  between 
Grey  town  and  Ochoa  Dam,  no  fewer  than  eighty  miles  of  transit 
and  level  have  been  run  recently,  for  every  mile  of  location. 
Along  the  line  forest-trees  of  enormous  size,  their  tops  covered 


GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  AN  ISTHMIAN  CANAL.      49 1 

with  vines,  form  a  canopy  that  shuts  out  in  great  part  even  the 
light  of  the  noonday  sun,  and  the  undergrowth  is  so  dense  that 
often  to  see  twenty  feet  in  advance  a  vista  has  to  be  cut  which 
may  disclose  a  steep  ascent,  or  a  swamp  whose  depth  or  width 
is  a  mystery  that  has  to  be  solved  by  running  a  transit-line. 

When  I  was  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Navigation,  and  had  official 
charge  of  the  surveys,  then  run  by  young  navy  officers,  I 
endeavored,  in  an  annual  report,  to  pay  a  just  tribute  to  the 
ability  and  indomitable  energy  of  those  officers.  All  their  labor 
was  performed  without  a  word  of  complaint,  and,  what  was 
very  satisfactory,  not  one  officer  or  man,  to  my  knowledge,  lost 
his  health  in  making  surveys  in  Nicaragua,  while  many  who 
were  engaged  on  the  Panama  and  Atrato-Napipi  surveys  became 
invalids, — one  of  whom  was  Lieutenant  Frederick  Collins,  who 
had  no  superior  known  to  me  in  the  service. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  difficulty  of  penetrating  these  dense 
forests,  I  will  mention  what  was  told  me  by  an  English  gentle- 
man whom  I  met  some  months  ago.  He  had  been  engaged  in 
gold-mining  in  the  Chontales  district,  some  sixty  miles  east  of 
Lake  Nicaragua.  A  French  gentleman  purchased  a  gold-mine 
near  him,  and  sent  to  Europe  to  get  suitable  machinery  to  work 
his  mine.  It  was  bought  and  shipped  at  considerable  cost,  and 
from  the  borders  of  the  lake  was  transported  over  the  rough 
mountain-roads  with  great  difficulty  and  expense.  When  it 
was  being  set  up,  in  cutting  a  line  of  sight  with  a  machete, — a 
species  of  cutlass,  in  the  use  of  which  the  natives  are  very 
dexterous, — a  fine  mountain-stream  was  discovered  with  abun- 
dant fall  to  answer  all  his  purposes.  Had  he  been  a  little  more 
enterprising  in  prospecting  he  would  have  saved  himself  the 
expenditure  of  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars.  The  Nicaragua 
Canal  Company  cannot  be  reproached  for  a  like  neglect  j  nothing 
would  satisfy  Mr.  Menocal  but  the  best  possible  location,  and 
that  he  has  secured,  at  a  cost  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars,  it  is  true,  but  with  an  economy  of  tens  of  millions  in 
the  construction  of  the  canal,  which  will  be  the  admiration  of 
coming  ages,  and  the  greatest  work  that  man  has  ever  achieved 
for  the  benefit  of  his  fellows. 

The  possibility  of  constructing  a  ship-canal  across  this  conti- 


492         THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

nent  lias  been  the  dream  of  enthusiasts  and  an  object  of  research 
with  scientists  for  centuries.  Among  the  latter  was  Alexander 
von  Humboldt,  who  wrote,  "  It  would  be  imprudent,  I  here 
repeat,  to  begin  at  one  point  without  having  examined  and 
levelled  others ;  and  it  would  be  above  all  to  be  regretted  if  the 
work  were  undertaken  on  too  small  a  scale ;  for  in  works  of 
this  description  the  expense  does  not  augment  in  proportion  to 
the  section  of  the  canals  or  the  breadth  of  the  water-channel. 
.  .  .  The  position  of  Nicaragua,  by  the  position  of  its  inland 
lake,  and  the  communication  of  that  lake  with  the  Atlantic  by 
the  Rio  San  Juan,  presents  several  features  of  resemblance  with 
that  neck  of  land  in  the  Scotch  highlands  where  the  river  Ness 
forms  a  natural  communication  between  the  mountain-lakes  and 
the  Gulf  of  Murray." 

Had  Baron  Humboldt  lived  until  his  ideas  had  assumed  a 
tangible  form  in  the  actual  location  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  he 
would  have  seen  that  great  lake,  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  above 
the  sea-level  with  a  considerable  part  of  its  bottom  below  the 
level  of  the  sea,  spread  out  to  within  less  than  four  miles  of  the 
free  waters  of  the  Pacific,  and  within  about  ten  miles  of  the 
Atlantic,  with  low  ground  intervening, — not  in  the  valley  of 
a  stream,  but  simply  a  flat  land, — presenting  no  obstacle  to 
dredging,  nor  any  difficulty  in  keeping  the  channel  clear  when 
the  work  should  be  completed. 

Long  before  these  expressions  of  Humboldt,  in  his  personal 
narratives,  published  in  London  in  1826,  Jefferson,  in  1788, 
being  then  in  Paris,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  the  United  States, 
"With  respect  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  I  am  assured  by 
Burgoyne  that  a  survey  was  made  and  a  canal  appeared  very 
practicable,  but  the  idea  was  suppressed  for  reasons  altogether 
political.  He  had  seen  and  examined  the  report.  This  report, 
to  me,  is  a  vast  consideration,  for  reasons  political  and  philo- 
sophical." 

Almost  coincident  in  time  with  the  expression  of  the  ideas  of 
Humboldt,  Henry  Clay  was  endeavoring  to  bring  about  an 
ascertainment  of  possibilities  in  relation  to  canal-construction, 

/  s 

Is      and  in  1835  Jackson  was  no  less  earnest. 

In  a  letter  dated  July  7,  1866,  to  Admiral  Davis,  then  Super- 


GENERAL   REMARKS  ON  AN  ISTHMIAN  CANAL.      493 

intendent  of  the  Naval  Observatory,  General  Grant  wrote,  "  I 
regard  it  as  of  vast  importance  to  this  country  that  no  European 
government  should  hold  such  a  work.  For  this  reason  I  have 
endeavored  for  the  last  year  to  get  such  a  thorough  survey  made 
by  the  government  of  the  United  States  through  the  territory 
of  the  Columbian  government  as  would  fully  determine  whether 
such  a  project  is  feasible,  not  doubting  that,  on  the  presentation 
of  such  feasibility,  American  capital  and  an  American  company, 
under  some  treaty  that  could  be  easily  arranged  between  the  two 
governments,  would  undertake  it." 

Through  the  surveys  of  our  government  subsequently  made, 
the  ideas  of  Humboldt  were  carried  out, — namely,  that  it  would 
be  imprudent  to  begin  a  work  of  such  magnitude  without  in  ad- 
vance making  sufficient  surveys  to  ascertain  the  topography  of  the 
whole  Isthmus;  and  this  was  accomplished  through  years  of  labor. 

At  the  Paris  Canal  Congress  in  May,  1879,  I  was  authorized 
by  President  Hayes  to  say, — 

"  The  long  period  of  time  over  which  the  surveys  of  the 
United  States  have  been  prosecuted,  designed  to  elucidate  the 
problem  of  a  ship-canal,  indicates  a  persistent  interest  in  this 
subject.  I  am  happy  to  add  that  the  present  Chief  Magistrate 
and  his  Cabinet  are  fully  alive  to  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from 
a  full  consideration  of  the  construction  of  an  inter-oceanic  ship- 
canal,  now  that  further  researches  of  the  topography  of  that 
region  no  longer  promise  commensurate  rewards. 

"  In  the  consideration  of  a  great  work,  such  as  the  construc- 
tion of  a  ship-canal  across  the  American  continent,  we  may  well 
suppose  that  its  permanency  should  be  regarded  as  important  as 
the  selection  of  the  route  itself,  involving  the  least  cost  of  con- 
struction with  the  minimum  of  problems  of  doubtful  cost  in  the 
execution  of  the  work.  With  these  points  assured,  the  question 
becomes  fairly  debatable  whether  the  physical  conditions  are  to 
be  considered  too  formidable  to  admit  of  the  execution  of  the 
work, — in  fact,  whether  a  grand  idea  for  the  amelioration  of  the 
great  commerce  of  the  world  can  be  put  in  execution,  or  must 
be  perforce  abandoned  through  the  existence  of  difficulties  too 
formidable  in  their  nature  to  admit  of  an  endeavor  to  overcome 
them." 


494  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

When  the  treaty  with  Nicaragua  as  agreed  upon  between 
Frelinghuysen  and  Zavala  was  found  not  acceptable  to  the  Ex- 
ecutive branch  of  the  incoming  Administration,  even  with  any 
modifications  that  Nicaragua  might  be  willing  to  concede,  since 
none  were  proposed, — such,  for  example,  as  rehabilitating  the 
association  of  our  citizens  that  had  previously  obtained  a  con- 
cession and  actually  held  it  more  with  a  view  to  secure  a  national 
necessity  than  for  personal  gain, — on  the  expiration  of  the  time 
agreed  upon  in  the  treaty  a  concession  by  the  government  of  Nic- 
aragua was  open  to  the  world,  and  especially,  so  far  as  the  United 
States  was  concerned,  to  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain,  or  any 
other  European  power,  from  the  terms  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty.  The  government  of  the  United  States  could  not  have 
made  a  valid  protest  had  the  subjects  of  Germany  possessed 
themselves  of  a  concession  to  construct  that  canal.  Had  such 
an  event  occurred,  we  may  suppose  that  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  would  not  have  regarded  it  with  satisfaction ;  and  yet 
neither  in  law  nor  in  equity  could  they  have  found  a  just  cause 
for  complaint, — a  protest,  even,  would  have  been  puerile, — and 
thus  we  might  have  seen  our  coasting  trade  dominated  by  a  foreign 
power  through  a  canal  which,  when  completed,  would  be  found 
neutral  just  so  far  as  that  power  should  agree  to  its  neutrality, 
beyond  the  free  transit  of  vessels  on  equal  terms  in  time  of  peace. 

Under  these  discouraging  conditions,  a  number  of  intelligent 
citizens  of  the  United  States  formed  an  association,  and,  with  a 
proper  degree  of  secrecy,  sent  an  agent  to  ask  another  concession 
for  the  construction  of  the  ship-canal,  which  was  obtained  by 
them,  despite  Panama  Canal  agents  and  other  adverse  influences. 
The  money  and  the  time  of  our  citizens  were  given  to  obtain 
success,  we  may  believe  with  a  considerable  desire  to  promote  our 
national  welfare,  while  a  munificent  reward  would  result  in  the 
construction  of  the  canal  should  they  obtain  a  concession.  As 
before,  the  obtaining  of  a  concession  was  doubtful,  and  a  failure 
to  obtain  it  would  have  entailed  a  considerable  loss  of  time  and 
money.  Nor  has  the  company  been  idle  since  obtaining  a  conces- 
sion and  an  act  of  incorporation.  The  thorough  surveys  already 
mentioned  have  given  admirable  results,  illustrating  a  well- 
known  fact,  that  in  carrying  out  any  grand  undertaking  the  first 


GENERAL   REMARKS   ON  AN  ISTHMIAN  CANAL.      495 

thing  to  do  is  to  ascertain  in  advance  just  what  has  to  be  done. 
Nor  has  this  been  all  that  has  thus  far  been  accomplished.  The 
efforts  in  progress  for  the  restoration  of  the  harbor  of  Grey- 
town  already  yield  tangible  results,  and  with  some  eight  or  ten 
dredging-machines  on  hand,  ready  to  operate,  the  harbor  will 
soon  be  deepened  and  the  canal  prism  dug  to  the  first  lock,  some 
ten  miles  distant,  so  broad  and  deep  that  it  may  fairly  be  re- 
garded as  a  harbor  extension.  Already  a  railroad  is  half  built 
and  operative  along  this  line,  and  water-pipes  are  being  laid  to 
convey  water  from  a  reservoir  in  the  hills  to  the  workmen  along 
the  line  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  harbor,  as  well  as  for  the 
vessels  that  will  soon  visit  that  port  in  numbers. 

The  construction  of  a  canal  under  an  American  company 
seems  no  less  necessary  to  the  peace  of  Europe  than  it  is  to  the 
peace  of  Central  America  and  a  large  part  of  this  continent. 
The  sudden  and  frequent  "  war-clouds''  that  threaten  Europe 
should  not  be  allowed  to  disturb  the  great  water-route  of  the 
future,  more  important  to  us  on  this  continent  than  to  Europeans. 
Had  the  Panama  Canal  proved  a  success  under  French  auspices, 
it  would  have  been  a  bone  of  contention  between  France  and  her 
neighbors,  and  the  toll-rates  agreed  upon  in  the  concession  would 
have  made  it  a  question  whether  anything  would  be  gained  by 
passing  through  the  canal  rather  than  around  Cape  Horn  or 
through  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  Thus  we  might  have  had  an 
Isthmian  canal  without  any  great  commercial  advantage,  and  at 
a  great  military  disadvantage,  had  the  Panama  route  been  practi- 
cable. Constructed  by  our  citizens,  under  an  act  of  incorpora- 
tion from  Congress,  and  fortified  in  such  a  manner  through  our 
government  as  to  preclude  pecuniary  embarrassment  during  its 
construction,  or  foreign  interference  in  the  future,  it  may,  when 
constructed,  possess  neutrality  in  a  proper  sense  of  the  word, 
altogether  different  from  the  neutrality  which  would  attach  to  it 
were  it  constructed  by  German  subjects  under  an  incorporation 
from  his  Imperial  Majesty,  or  were  it  under  the  protection  of  the 
government  of  France.  Authorized  by  the  Executive  Department 
of  our  government,  I  said  at  the  Paris  Canal  Congress  of  1879, — 

"  The  people  of  the  United  States  are  not  disposed  to  consider 
the  construction  of  the  canal  solely  with  reference  to  the  degree 


/ 
/ 


V 


496         THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

in  which  the  commerce  and  interests  of  the  United  States  will  be 
relatively  benefited  through  its  construction,  as  compared  with 
the  advantages  that  may  accrue  to  other  nations.  Such  a  ship- 
canal  cannot  fail  to  be  a  great  and  common  benefit,  and  especially 
in  opening  a  rapid  and  easy  transit  between  the  Atlantic  coasts 
of  Europe  and  America  with  the  western  coast  of  America,  and 
the  speedy  development  of  Australia.  Regarding  this  inter- 
oceanic  ship-canal,  when  constructed,  as  the  greatest  artificial 
highway  that  can  be  constructed,  conferring  benefits  on  all  nations 
and  peoples,  the  people  of  the  United  States  consider  its  con- 
struction a  matter  of  common  interest,  and  the  guarantee  of  its 
neutrality  a  duty  common  to  all  nations." 

The  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  since  the  meeting 
of  the  so-called  "  Paris  Canal  Congress"  in  May,  1879,  has  given 
the  subject  of  an  Inter-Oceanic  Canal  attentive  consideration.  As 
is  well  known,  this  committee  is  chosen  from  the  best-informed  o£ 
both  parties,  especially  as  relates  to  our  "  foreign  policy," — if  we 
may  flatter  ourselves  that  such  a  thing  exists  as  a  practical  fact. 

For  the  last  two  years  that  committee  has  wished  to  secure  to 
this  government  the  control  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  route,  and 
to  make  the  work  an  accomplished  fact,  economic  in  construc- 
tion, and  its  peaceful  use  equal  in  all  respects  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  For  the  furtherance  of  these  purposes,  on  the 
10th  of  January,  1891,  the  committee  submitted  to  the  Senate  a 
unanimous  report  in  favor  of  the  bill,  which  it  earnestly  recom- 
mended for  consideration.    Briefly,  the  bill  provided  as  follows  : 

1.  For  a  first  (and  only)  mortgage  of  all  the  company's  belong- 
ings, of  every  name  and  nature,  to  secure  a  loan  of  one  hundred 
million  dollars,  the  interest  on  which  was  to  be  guaranteed  by 
the  United  States. 

2.  For  the  hypothecation  to  the  government  of  seven-tenths 
of  the  Canal  Company's  stock. 

3.  For  the  issue  and  sale  of  the  remaining  stock  in  the  event 
only  of  the  proceeds  of  the  bonds  being  insufficient  to  complete 
the  canal. 

4.  For  the  appointment  outright  of  six  of  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors, with,  by  virtue  of  control  of  a  majority  of  stock  interests, 
authority  to  choose  the  remaining  directors. 


THE  NICARAGUA    CANAL  BILL.  497 

5.  For  the  bi-monthly  progress  payments  to  the  company  in 
bonds  for  work  done  in  construction,  on  certification  of  govern- 
ment engineers,  and  for  payment  in  similar  securities,  on  same 
proof,  for  work  already  done. 

6.  For  the  acquirement  by  the  United  States,  in  its  option, 
after  the  completion  of  the  canal,  at  par  value  of  the  ownership 
of  the  hypothecated  stock,  paying  for  the  same  by  retirement 
and  cancellation  of  the  guaranteed  bonds. 

No  more  bonds  were  to  be  issued  than  would  be  required  to 
provide  funds  to  complete  the  canal,  and  this  sum,  in  the  opinion 
of  competent  judges,  would  not  exceed  from  eighty  to  ninety 
million  dollars.  In  this  case  the  government  would  possess 
itself  of  a  majority  of  stock,  and  would  become,  practically, 
the  owner  of  the  canal,  without  other  cost  than  the  lending  of 
its  credit. 

Should  the  work  fail  under  this  government  direction,  then 
the  mortgage  would  be  foreclosed,  and  the  government  would 
possess  itself  of  what  had  been  accomplished,  the  franchise,  and 
all  the  accessory  rights. 

When  this  bill  was  presented  to  the  President  of  the  Canal 
Company,  he  stated  that,  while  he  regarded  its  provisions,  from 
a  commercial  point  of  view,  as  very  unfavorable  to  the  interests 
of  the  shareholders,  yet,  as  the  company  existed  as  a  corporation 
by  virtue  of  a  law  of  Congress,  which  could,  at  its  discretion, 
be  altered,  amended,  or  repealed,  at  will,  and  as  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations  were  unanimously  of  opinion  that  the 
terms  of  the  original  act  ought  to  be  modified,  as  recommended 
in  their  report,  to  secure  to  the  government  great  national  inter- 
ests, he  would  advise  the  acceptance  of  the  conditions  imposed. 
This  was  finally  agreed  to  by  his  associates,  and  by  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Canal  Company. 

The  bill  as  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations 
has  been  discussed  at  length  in  the  Senate,  and  its  opponents 
have  denounced  its  provisions  as  in  effect  the  "granting  of  a 
subsidy."  It  soon  became  apparent  that  a  fair  and  full  consid- 
eration of  the  measure  could  not  be  had  before  the  adjournment 
of  Congress,  and  it  was  therefore  withdrawn  by  the  chairman 
of  the  committee. 

32 


498  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND   THE   NEW. 

The  Canal  Company  is  now  free  to  proceed  in  the  execution 
of  the  work  in  its  own  interest,  with  well-ascertained  facts  in 
relation  to  physical  and  commercial  questions. 

The  company  generously  accorded  to  the  government  the 
terms  proposed  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  although 
the  bill  virtually  placed  the  execution  of  the  work  in  the  hands 
of  the  government. 

Whatever  the  outcome,  the  company  cannot  be  justly  accused 
of  having  selfishly  delivered  over  the  control  of  this  grand 
work  to  British  or  other  foreign  capital,  should  such  be  the 
result. 

The  canal  will  certainly  be  completed,  and  under  this  confirmed 
concession.  The  opposition  in  Congress  is  injurious  only  to  the 
interests  of  the  government,  and  to  the  traffic,  whether  belong- 
ing to  us  or  to  other  peoples,  for  the  reason  that  the  Canal 
Company  will  necessarily  incur  heavy  expenses  in  raising  the 
capital,  and  the  interest  thereon  will  be  much  greater  than  it 
would  be  were  there  a  government  guarantee.  This  increased 
cost  will  be  paid  by  the  traffic,  and  the  tolls  will  probably  be 
double  what  they  would  be  were  the  work  constructed  under 
the  bill  proposed  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  The 
traffic  will  be  sufficient  to  yield  fifteen  per  cent,  on  two  hun- 
dred million  dollars  capital,  should  that  amount  be  required  to 
complete  the  canal. 

It  is  very  expensive  to  any  country  to  have  a  body  of  legis- 
lators who  have  little  knowledge  of  external  affairs,  and  who 
denounce  what  they  know  little  about.  The  so-called  "  subsidy," 
which  has  been  so  much  condemned,  would  have  been  a  fifteen- 
per-cent.  government  investment  on  seventy  million  dollars, 
with  a  half-rate  of  tolls,  due  to  the  government  guarantee. 

What  the  "  control"  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  may  eventually 
cost,  no  human  being  can  tell.  It  may  be  a  thousand  million 
dollars  and  a  hundred  thousand  human  lives.  Whatever  it 
may  be,  it  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  indifference  of  the  Canal 
Company  to  our  national  interests. 

The  construction  of  the  canal  is  in  able  hands,  the  ablest  that 
our  country  can  produce,  and  failure  to  construct  it  I  regard  as 
impossible. 


BENEFITS  OF  HORSEBACK-RIDING  AND   EXERCISE.      499 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

Desultory  Observations  on  Men  and  Things — Choose  a  Country-House — 
Benefits  of  Horseback-Hiding  and  Exercise — Francis  P.  Blair — George 
Bancroft — Observations  on  the  City  of  Washington — Its  Great  Improve- 
ment, Advantages  in  Climate,  Health,  Location,  etc. — The  City  Gov- 
ernment— "  Boss"  Shepherd — Ex-Governor  Dennison — The  Presidential 
Keceptions — A  Present  of  a  Carriage  from  General  Grant — Frequent  Visits 
to  him — The  Ferry  Story — Scurrilous  Newspapers — Senator  Conkling — The 
Cause  of  his  Death — Mr.  Colfax — General  Beauregard — General  Grant's 
Annoyances — Appointments  in  Louisiana — The  Treaty  with  Santo  Do- 
mingo— Fred  Douglass — Pace  Prejudices  not  entertained  by  Naval  Men — 
Senator  Sumner  and  his  Course  on  the  San  Domingo  Matter. 

In  the  discharge  of  my  duties  as  Chief  of  Bureau  in  Wash- 
ington I  found  my  time  so  much  occupied  that  I  chose  a  country 
home,  where  I  could  have  my  evenings  for  considering  or  pre- 
paring my  work,  and  a  horse  to  ride,  which  I  consider  almost 
indispensable  to  the  health  and  well-being  of  every  one  having 
responsible  duties.  An  old  Latin  proverb  says  that  a  sound 
mind  requires  a  sound  body.  My  whole  experience  goes  to 
show  that  there  is  no  means  of  insuring  physical  vigor  compar- 
able to  exercise  on  horseback.  If  you  wish  to  assure  yourself 
what  that  exercise  is  doing  for  you,  when  riding  lay  your  hand 
on  your  abdomen,  whether  your  horse  is  walking,  trotting,  or  gal- 
loping, and  you  will  find  that  you  are  undergoing  a  "massage" 
treatment  just  where  nature  requires  most  assistance.  Look 
around  among  your  acquaintances  and  see  if  you  can  find  one 
who  rides  on  horseback  who  is  not  more  vigorous  than  those  of 
the  same  age  who  are  content  with  an  occasional  or  daily  long 
walk,  or  who  make  exercise  easy  by  a  drive  on  a  smooth  road 
in  a  carriage  carefully  designed  to  lessen  jolts. 

As  historic  figures  and  illustrative  of  the  efficacy  of  horseback- 
riding,  I  will  recall  to  the  memory  of  old  Washingtonians  the 
late  Francis  P.  Blair  and  Mr.  George  Bancroft,  both  of  whom 
for  half  a  century  took  their  daily  rides  in  or  near  the  city. 
Emperor  Wilhelm  of  Germany,  who  died  three  years  ago,  at 
the  age  of  ninety-one,  rode  on  horseback  almost  daily  to  the 


500  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

day  of  his  death.  It  was  said  that  in  his  last  years  the  horse 
had  to  be  brought  between  two  platforms,  upon  one  of  which 
the  Emperor  stood  in  order  to  mount.  He  lived  long  and  use- 
fully, and  will  be  a  grand  personage  in  all  history. 

In  1869  the  city  of  Washington  was  called  a  "mud-hole," 
and  certainly  not  without  reason.  During  the  winter  season 
there  were  few  streets  that  were  not  almost  impassable  at  times 
from  the  mud,  and  during  the  summer  the  dust  was  intolerable. 
The  Washington  of  to-day  is  surpassed  by  few  cities  in  the 
world  in  the  attractiveness  of  its  construction,  its  adornments, 
and  its  advantages  to  visitors  and  residents,  and  year  by  year  it 
will  become  still  more  attractive.  Lying  as  it  does  fifty  miles 
distant  from  the  Blue  Ridge,  with  the  higher  Allegheny  range 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  beyond,  the  cold  northwest  winds  do 
not  readily  descend  to  the  lower  grounds  around  Washington. 
They  rarely  last  twenty-four  hours,  and  then  the  southwest 
wind,  blowing  along  the  southeast  face  of  the  Ridge,  comes  from 
a  milder  climate.  There  are  few  cloudy  days  in  Washington 
during  the  winter  season ;  this  fact  was  brought  to  my  notice 
years  ago  by  Mrs.  Washington  McLean,  then  living  in  Cincin- 
nati, who  had  observed  the  remarkable  difference  between  the 
two  cities  in  this  respect.  During  my  boyhood  days  in  Ohio  I 
was  often  grievously  disappointed  from  cloudless  nights  appear- 
ing to  promise  a  fair  day,  when  no  sooner  would  the  sun  rise 
than  clouds  and  snow  or  rain  would  come. 

After  a  residence  of  twenty  years  in  the  vicinity  of  Washing- 
ton, a'nd  some  study  of  the  weather  maps  of  the  United  States, 
I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  locality  between 
the  Alleghenies  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  where  the  climate  is  so 
good  as  that  of  Washington,  especially  during  the  winter  season. 

It  required  an  able  man  and  a  bold  effort  to  get  Washington 
out  of  a  mud-hole.  "  Boss  Shepherd,"  as  his  enemies  called 
him,  was  the  man,  and  the  bold  effort  consisted  in  laying  down 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  between  the  Capitol  and  the  Treasury 
Department  in  wooden  blocks,  which  was  followed  by  a  grand 
celebration.  The  inhabitants  walked  with  conscious  pride  a  full 
mile  without  encountering  a  mud-hole  !  This  was  glory  enough 
for  one  day. 


THE   CITY  GOVERNMENT.  501 

Then  the  city  was  "parked,"  as  the  process  was  called  of 
narrowing  the  carriage-ways  in  the  streets,  by  which  means  the 
residences  were  enabled  to  have  a  broad  ornamental  grass  front- 
age, with  shrubbery  or  trees  planted  at  will.  Other  streets  were 
paved  with  wooden  blocks,  and  as  the  blocks  decayed  they  were 
replaced  with  asphalt,  or  heavy  blocks  of  stone,  with  improved 
methods  of  laying,  and  an  improved  solidity  of  road-bed  that 
makes  the  ordinary  visitor  of  to-day  look  with  satisfaction,  and 
even  pride,  on  the  capital  of  our  country. 

The  city  government  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  its  in- 
habitants, many  of  whom  were  transient  and  had  no  personal 
interests  which  would  insure  an  honest  and  intelligent  expendi- 
ture of  money  in  the  improvement  of  the  city ;  indeed,  previous 
experience  had  established  the  fact  that  there  was  a  considerable 
number  of  persons  of  little  character  to  lose,  who  were  antago- 
nistic to  honest  expenditures.  Under  provisions  of  law,  com- 
missioners were  appointed  by  the  President  to  determine  upon 
improvements  in  the  District  j  and  it  is  the  general  impression 
of  the  tax-payers  that  no  city  in  the  United  States  has  as  much 
to  show  for  the  money  expended,  especially  in  streets  and  roads, 
as  the  city  of  Washington.  Ex-Governor  Dennison,  of  Ohio, 
was  one  of  the  early  commissioners.  In  a  conversation  with  me 
he  said  that  he  had  accepted  the  appointment  with  the  view 
of  studying  the  problem  of  making  municipal  expenditures 
economical  and  honest,  which  he  regarded  as  the  most  difficult 
problem  of  a  popular  government,  by  which  is  meant  a  govern- 
ment where  persons  are  allowed  to  vote  in  relation  to  making 
expenditures  who  do  not  contribute  through  taxation  to  the 
funds  required.  Congressional  legislation  has  imposed  heavy 
taxes  on  the  tax-payers  of  Washington  for  an  expensive  failure 
in  water-works,  and  yet  has  put  the  execution  of  such  works 
beyond  the  control  of  the  city  government;  it  has  also  pro- 
vided for  a  large  park,  very  ornamental,  and  very  attractive  to 
visitors,  and  for  a  zoological  garden,  to  which  the  representatives 
of  the  people  will  point  with  pride  as  showing  the  liberality  of 
Congress,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  the  tax-payers  are  made  to 
meet  one-half  the  expenses.  There  is  a  broad  distinction  be- 
tween the  tax-payers  and  the  inhabitants  of  Washington;  I 


502  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

belong  neither  to  the  one  nor  the  other,  and  on  that  account  am 
the  better  able  to  write  of  a  manifest  meanness  and  injustice. 

A  few  days  before  General  Grant  left  for  Mexico,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1879,  I  was  one  of  twenty  persons,  among  whom  were  a 
number  of  Senators,  the  late  Chief-Justice  Waite,  and  other 
persons  of  distinction,  at  a  dinner  given  the  general.  Among 
those  present  on  this  occasion  there  was  entire  unanimity  of 
opinion  that  the  city  of  Washington  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude  to 
"  Boss  Shepherd"  which  could  be  discharged  in  no  more  suitable 
way  than  by  erecting  in  his  honor  a  statue  of  heroic  size.  Mr. 
Shepherd  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  and  resembled 
in  a  marked  degree  the  statue  of  General  Ethan  Allen,  of  Ver- 
mont, in  the  Capitol  "  Walhalla."  He  is  now  at  Batopilas, 
Mexico,  engaged  in  silver-mining,  and,  with  his  ability  and 
energy,  should  make  a  fortune,  if  he  has  not  already  done  so. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  dinner  above  spoken  of,  I  left  the 
house  in  company  with  the  Chief-Justice  Waite,  and  a  distin- 
guished gentleman  who  I  had  reason  to  believe  was  not  favor- 
able to  the  Nicaragua  Canal  project.  As  we  walked  along,  the 
latter  said,  "  Admiral,  you  make  very  good  wine  :  wine-making 
is  certainly  more  satisfactory  and  less  laborious  than  canal- 
digging  ;  I  would  suggest  the  advantage  of  pursuing  that  as  the 
more  profitable  occupation."  I  of  course  thanked  the  gentleman 
for  his  good  opinion  of  my  wine.  I  did  not  meet  him  again, 
except  for  a  few  moments  on  one  occasion  on  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  until  after  my  return  from  Nicaragua  in  the  summer 
of  1890,  when  I  called  to  see  him  at  his  residence  in  Washing- 
ton, and  had  the  pleasure  of  telling  him  how  favorable  the 
physical  conditions  seemed  to  me  on  passing  over  the  canal 
location.  He  asked  if  I  continued  to  make  wine;  I  replied 
that  unhappily  my  grape-crops  had  failed,  and  that  I  had  not 
the  genius  of  the  French,  who  could  make  wine  without 
grapes. 

One  of  the  attractions  to  the  inhabitants  of  Washington,  as 
distinguished  from  its  residents  in  the  proper  sense,  consists  in 
the  Presidential  receptions,  particularly  the  night  receptions, 
which  have  been  literally  crowded  since  the  civil  war.  Presi- 
dent Grant  told  me  that  some  villanous  fellow  had  tried  on  two 


THE  FERRY  STORY.  503 

occasions  to  dislocate  his  arm  at  the  shoulder  by  a  peculiar  twist 
and  violent  jerk  in  shaking  his  hand,  and  had  immediately 
dodged  into  the  crowd  and  disappeared.  This  hand-shaking 
was  not  onerous  when  the  number  of  persons  attending  recep- 
tions was  small,  but  now  when  tens  of  thousands  present  them- 
selves the  observance  of  such  a  custom  is  incomprehensible,  not 
to  say  ridiculous.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Washington  go 
on  all  occasions  "to  pay  their  respects  to  the  President,"  as 
they  call  it, — when  once  a  year  should  suffice. 

A  year  after  I  had  established  myself  in  the  country  on  the 
line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  General  Grant  was 
good  enough  to  offer  me  a  two-horse  carriage  which  he  had  used 
since  his  residence  in  Washington  up  to  the  time  of  his  inaugu- 
ration as  President.  I  made  use  of  it  for  a  time,  but  found  it 
too  cumbersome,  and  placed  it  under  shelter,  where  it  remained 
for  sixteen  years.  It  has  recently  been  put  in  the  National 
Museum.  Steel  plates  now  form  the  bottoms  of  carriages, 
doing  away  with  the  "  couplings"  in  ordinary  use  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago,  when  this  carriage  was  new,  and  one  of  the  best 
manufactured  at  that  time. 

Up  to  the  time  that  General  Grant  left  Washington,  I  went 
to  the  city  frequently  on  Sundays,  and  had  a  standing  invitation 
to  dine  with  him  on  that  day  when  I  found  it  convenient.  On 
my  arrival,  which  was  usually  two  hours  or  more  before  the 
dinner-hour,  it  was  his  habit  to  take  with  me  a  long  walk  in  a 
northwesterly  direction,  often  five  or  six  miles.  One  day  we 
met  two  gentlemen,  one  of  whom  knew  the  President  and  intro- 
duced the  other,  who  said,  "  General,  I  knew  you  when  you 
kept  Knight's  Ferry  near  Stockton."  The  general  smiled  quiz- 
zically, and  said  that  he  had  met  a  great  many  people  who  had 
known  him  when  he  kept  that  ferry.  Ten  years  later,  when 
he  was  returning  East,  after  making  his  tour  of  the  globe,  he 
visited  Stockton  and  made  a  few  humorous  remarks  to  the 
persons  who  received  him.  He  said  he  had  met  thousands  of 
people  who  informed  him  that  they  had  been  personally  ac- 
quainted with  him  when  he  kept  Knight's  Ferry  near  by.  It 
was  an  unaccountable  mistake,  however,  as  he  had  never  been 
there  except  on  one  occasion  before  the  present  visit,  and  then 


504  THE  0LD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

he  was  detained  over-night  by  an  accident.      On  one  of  the 
many  Sundays  that  I  walked  with  him  the  weather  was  raw 
and  windy.     On  coming  into  the  house  the  general  proposed  a 
glass  of  liquor,  and,  going  into  the  dining-room,  we  were  waited 
on  by  the  steward.    That  was  the  only  occasion  on  which  I  ever 
drank  liquor  in  the  White  House  or  ever  saw  General  Grant 
take  it ;  and  yet  the  vile  newspapers  denounced  him  as  a  sot ! 
The  Sunday  press  of  that  day  was  lying  and  depreciative  in  the 
extreme.      During  the  last  winter  of  his  administration  they 
were  particularly  abusive.    They  announced  that  the  nation  was 
disgraced  by  the  Chief  Magistrate  reeling  around  the  streets  of 
the  capital  in  a  drunken  condition.     To  my  personal  knowledge, 
at  that  time  General  Grant  was  actually  abstemious,  not  taking 
even  one  glass  of  wine  at  his  own  table,  which  was  amply 
supplied ;  and  in  years  before,  when  he  took  wine,  it  was  very 
sparingly,  one  or  two  wineglasses  and  no  more.     At  these  Sun- 
day dinners  he  had  naturally  only  his  personal  friends  or  those 
of  Mrs.  Grant.     A  frequent  visitor  was  Senator  Conkling,  who 
was  a  stanch  friend  of  the  general,  and  the  general  was  no  less 
attached  to  him.     The  conversation  was  rarely  political,  unless 
in  a  brief  way,  and  never  malicious  gossip,  which  is  at  some 
tables  the  essence  of  society  talk.     The  Senator  had  a  vein  of 
quiet  sarcastic  expression  that  was  interesting,  sometimes  relat- 
ing to  legislation  and  at  other  times  to  his  political  opponents. 
After  General  Grant  left  the  White  House  I  saw  Mr.  Conkling 
on  one  occasion  only,  at  Wormley's,  in  Washington,  some  seven 
years  ago.    He  had  then  retired  from  public  life,  aud  was  suffer- 
ing from  chronic  rheumatism  ;    his  magnificent  physique  had 
been  impaired  in  a  perceptible  degree.     I  called  upon  him  with 
my  friend  Ex-President  Cardenas  of  Nicaragua  in  relation  to 
forwarding  the  Nicaragua  Canal  construction.     Mr.  Conkling 
was  no  hypocrite,  and  it  did  not  take  long  to  discover  that  he 
wras  not  favorably  disposed  towards  the  project,  although  he  was 
perfectly  courteous,  as  I  always  found  him.     He  was  doubtless 
well  informed  in  relation  to  the  indisputable  merits  of  the  route, 
as  known  even  at  that  time.     I  formed  the  idea  that  the  "  rail- 
road magnates"  or  the  American  Panama  Canal  syndicate  had 
employed  him  as  an  attorney  to  oppose  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 


MR.   COLFAX.  505 

which  he  could  do  in  a  passive  way  without  difficulty  or  inter- 
ference with  his  large  and  remunerative  law  practice. 

Mr.  Conkling  fell  a  victim  to  the  blizzard  of  March  12,  1888. 
One  can  hardly  conceive  how  so  many  thousands  could  succumb 
to  the  violence  of  that  fierce  storm,  and  that,  too,  in  the  great 
cities,  surrounded  on  every  side  by  persons  who  would  have  been 
only  too  glad  to  take  wayfarers  into  their  houses  and  shelter  them. 
The  loss  of  life  grew  out  of  the  attempts  of  many  thousands  to 
reach  their  homes  when  all  public  conveyance  was  suspended 
by  reason  of  the  impossibility  of  transit.  The  streets  were 
filled  with  enormous  wet  snow-drifts,  that  soon  became  impass- 
able even  to  a  strong  man.  The  greater  number  of  those  who 
struggled  through  the  snow-drifts,  like  Mr.  Conkling,  died  after- 
wards, victims  to  disease  brought  about  through  their  exposure. 
My  residence  was  near  the  southern  limit  of  the  blizzard.  In 
the  forenoon  we  had  a  steady  heavy  rain  ;  near  noon  it  turned 
to  sleet,  and  later  to  snow  falling  so  heavily  that  one  could  see 
through  it  only  a  few  yards.  There  was  a  howling  gale  all  the 
day  and  nearly  throughout  the  night.  Before  night  the  roofs 
of  houses  were  loaded  with  heavy  masses  of  frozen  snow ;  in 
the  morning  the  snow  was  a  foot  deep  on  the  ground  and  the 
thermometer  with  us  stood  at  ten  degrees.  The  four  lines  of 
telegraph-poles  along  the  turnpike  leading  to  the  post-office 
were  all  blown  down.  The  next  day,  mounted  on  a  strong 
horse,  I  got  to  the  post-office,  a  mile  distant,  by  either  riding 
around  the  butts  of  the  poles  or  over  them,  as  was  found  most 
convenient.  It  was  a  fortnight  before  the  roads  were  open  to 
wagons,  and  nearly  a  week  before  the  wires  were  in  operation 
to  New  York.  South  of  Washington  the  storm  was  not  of 
much  force,  and  did  little  damage. 

On  one  occasion  I  met  at  the  White  House  Mr.  Colfax,  who 
was  then  Vice-President.  I  had  met  him  but  once  before,  when 
lie  delivered  a  lecture  in  York,  Pennsylvania.  The  conversa- 
tion turned  on  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  when  Mr.  Colfax  remarked 
that  he  hoped  the  President  would  not  make  its  construction  an 
administration  measure ;  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  canal  if  built 
would  injure  the  overland  railroads,  and  therefore  he  did  not 
look  upon  it  with  favor.     The  President  said  he  had  no  idea  of 


506  THE   OLD   NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

making  it  a  party  measure,  but  in  his  opinion  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  great  moment  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  On 
another  occasion  I  met  General  Beauregard,  who  was  altogether 
an  attractive  acquaintance:  he  gave  me  some  ideas  in  relation 
to  mattressing  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  River,  where  a 
crevasse  was  threatened,  by  means  of  Mississippi  "  canes"  as 
they  are  called,  a  species  of  bamboo,  and  the  only  kind  that  I 
know  of  in  the  United  States,  although  there  are  fifty  or  more 
varieties  in  China  and  Japan,  many  of  them  superior  in  strength 
and  usefulnesss  to  our  variety. 

I  was  sufficiently  intimate  with  President  Grant  to  be  made 
aware  of  the  many  annoyances  to  which  he  was  subjected  politi- 
cally and  otherwise,  in  reference  to  which  he  might  have  ex- 
claimed, as  Jackson  is  said  to  have  done,  "  God  protect  me  from 
my  friends ;  I  can  guard  against  my  enemies."  He  said  to  me 
in  relation  to  making  appointments  in  Louisiana,  that  if  he 
knew  Democrats  who  were  capable  and  honest  he  would  appoint 
them,  but  that  the  mere  fact  of  their  being  Democrats  did  not 
make  them  honest.  I  named  a  native  Louisianian  with  whom 
he  was  acquainted,  and  said  that  gentleman  had  told  me  some 
years  before  there  was  no  political  honesty  in  his  State,  in  either 
party.  The  President  found  it  advisable  after  a  time  never  to 
listen  to  verbal  recommendations  of  any  applicant  for  an  ap- 
pointment, requiring  all  recommendations  to  be  made  in  writing. 
On  several  occasions  these  papers  were  a  source  of  great  annoy- 
ance and  confusion  to  persons  who  denied  being  the  sponsors  of 
men  who  had  been  appointed  partly  at  least  on  their  recommen- 
dation. The  President  said  that  if  Senator  Conkling  recom- 
mended any  one  he  felt  satisfied  he  had  ascertained  his  fitness  in 

advance ,  but  if  Senator gave  a  recommendation,  he  was 

inclined  to  believe,  from  a  long  experience  with  the  Senator, 
that  the  man  recommended  was  unfit  for  the  place. 

About  the  year  1872  a  treaty  was  entered  into  between  our 
government  and  the  government  of  San  Domingo  making  pro- 
visions for  the  annexation  of  that  country  to  the  United  States. 
In  order  that  Congress  should  be  fully  informed  as  to  the  merits 
of  the  question,  a  commission  was  appointed  by  President  Grant 
to  visit  Santo  Domingo  and  report.     The  gentlemen  appointed 


FRED    DOUGLASS.  507 

belonged  to  both  political  parties,  were  known  as  representative 
men,  and  were  supposed  to  be  without  bias  in  relation  to  the 
question.  Although  these  gentlemen  had  originally  diverse 
views,  I  believe  they  returned  to  the  United  States  of  one  mind 
as  to  the  expediency  of  annexing  Santo  Domingo,  regarding  the 
project  with  much  favor.  I  noticed  a  statement  in  one  of  the 
speeches  of  Senator  Sumner  during  their  absence  that  Hayti 
and  Santo  Domingo  being  at  war  at  the  time,  should  the  Com- 
mission fall  into  the  hands  of  the  former  power  they  would, 
under  the  laws  of  nations,  be  treated  as  enemies.  I  had  noted 
in  other  matters,  perhaps  in  the  Alabama  claims  arbitration, 
that  his  utterances  were  not  supported  by  Vattel,  or  by  any 
other  authority  known  to  me.  On  the  return  of  the  Commis- 
sion I  happened  to  meet  "  Fred  Douglass,"  as  he  was  called  by 
the  public;  his  face  had  been  familiar  to  me  for  years,  his 
physiognomy  being  one  indicating  great  intellectual  power,  but 
I  had  never  before  had  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  him.  I 
introduced  myself,  and  said  that  I  hoped  his  visit  to  Santo 
Domingo  had  been  agreeable  and  interesting  j  I  remarked  that 
one  had  to  get  accustomed  to  the  sea  before  a  voyage  became 
free  from  discomfort.  Since  that  time  I  have  met  Mr.  Douglass 
on  several  occasions,  and  have  always  been  impressed  by  his 
ability,  his  manners,  and  his  ideas  in  general.  During  our  civil 
war  Mr.  Chase,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  good  enough 
at  times  to  invite  me  to  take  a  family  dinner  with  him ;  in 
conversation,  on  one  of  these  occasions,  he  said  that  Douglass 
was  the  ablest  speaker  he  had  ever  heard.  A  few  days  after 
the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Lincoln  on  East  Capitol  Street, 
April  14,  1876,  the  eleventh  anniversary  of  Lincoln's  assassina- 
tion, on  one  of  my  visits  to  President  Grant  I  said  I  had  just 
read  the  oration  of  Douglass  with  great  interest,  and  mentioned 
what  Mr.  Chase  had  said  of  him  some  twelve  years  before. 
The  President  said  he  had  stood  bv  the  side  of  Douglass  on 
that  occasion  ;  what  I  had  read  he  had  uttered,  but  what  stamped 
him  as  an  orator  was  actually  an  inspiration  of  the  moment,  and 
was  not  to  be  found  in  print.  He  had  never  heard  the  equal 
of  Fred  Douglass  as  an  orator. 

As  we  all  know,  there  are  race  prejudices,  and  those  of  color 


508  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

are  stronger  than  any  other.  The  habit  of  navy  men,  from 
travel  and  association  with  other  races,  naturally  weakens  or 
destroys  this  prejudice  per  se,  in  a  great  measure.  When  Com- 
modore Tatnall  visited  the  coast  of  Africa,  at  Liberia  he  invited 
the  President  of  that  republic  and  our  minister  to  dine  with 
him  on  board  of  the  Cyane,  and  no  doubt  treated  his  guests 
with  as  much  courtesy  as  if  they  had  been  white  and  of  long 
lineage.  Although  Tatnall  was  a  Georgian,  and  doubtless  as  a 
youth  had  the  prejudices  of  those  who  surrounded  him,  as  a 
man  developed  by  contact  with  the  world  he  would  have  re- 
garded it  as  puerile  to  treat  with  depreciation  any  one  whom  he 
had  invited  to  sit  at  his  table.  It  does  not  alter  the  case  to  say 
that  he  would  not  have  had  such  guests  had  he  not  been  brought 
in  contact  with  them  officially.  He  was  a  gentleman  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word,  a  character  that  is  not  borne  out  by  the 
conventional  gentleman  of  any  period  who  might  think  himself 
grievously  wronged  should  he  find  himself  by  accident,  or  in 
travelling,  seated  at  table  with  a  "  nigger/'  no  matter  if  the 
latter  were  cleanly  in  his  person,  refined  in  his  tastes,  and 
enlarged  in  his  ideas. 

After  the  return  of  the  Commission  from  Santo  Domingo, 
President  Grant  laid  the  facts  before  Congress  for  its  action,  and 
about  that  time  paid  a  visit  to  Senator  Sumner,  who  posed  as 
the  especial  champion  and  friend  of  the  negro.  The  object  of 
the  President  was  to  discuss  the  advisability  of  the  measure  of 
annexation.  Some  time  after,  Senator  Sumner  delivered  one  of 
his  many  great  speeches,  the  pith  of  which  was  that  after  a  long 
conversation  with  President  Grant  he  had  been  clever  enough  to 
make  the  President  believe  that  he  would  support  the  annexa- 
tion of  Santo  Domingo,  when  from  what  he  had  actually  said 
the  President  should  not  have  come  to  that  conclusion.  In  his 
great  speeches  he  would  proclaim  that  as  a  "  patriot"  he  could 
not  do  this  or  that,  which  at  the  time  reminded  me  forcibly  of 
what  Johnson  said  of  an  asserted  "  patriotism." 


ANNEXATION  OF  SANTO  DOMINGO.  509 


•     CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

President  Grant  mentions  the  Advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  Annexation 
of  Santo  Domingo — The  Marked  Features  of  General  Grant's  Individuality 
— The  Craze  to  be  President — A  Quotation  relating  to  the  Death  of  Charles 
the  Fifth  of  France — The  Epizooty — Chlorate  of  Potash  as  a  Kemedy — 
General  Sherman's  Criticism  on  a  Koad — Commodore  Guest — A  Rattle- 
snake— Surgeon-General  Wood  bitten  by  a  Snake — How  he  was  Cured — 
Attend  the  Reunion  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  at  Columbus,  Ohio — 
Meet  General  Sheridan  for  the  First  Time — Meet  General,  afterwards 
President,  Hayes — A  Visit  to  the  Institution  for  Mutes — The  Fate  of 
General  Grant's  Horse,  Cincinnati — Nicaraguan  Ministers  to  the  United 
States — Don  Emilio  Benard — Don  Max  Sonnestern — Hon.  Alex.  H. 
Stephens — Dining  with  Mr.  George  W.  Childs — General  Grant  advised  to 
get  some  "  Lawyers"  when  he  should  reach  the  Island  of  Penang — Outcome 
of  this  Advice — A  visit  to  Ohio  with  General  Grant — General  Grant's  Trip 
abroad — The  Author  becomes  a  Rear- Admiral  and  is  retired — Endeavor 
to  promote  the  Construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal — Kindly  Feelings 
between  Comrades  of  the  Old  Army — The  Motives  of  Actors  in  the  Civil 
"War  to  be  considered,  not  the  Objects — Closing  Remarks. 

President  Grant  spoke  to  me  of  the  advantages  which  would 
accrue  from  the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo.  He  thought  it 
would  lead  to  a  considerable  emigration  of  blacks,  especially 
from  those  districts  where  they  were  maltreated.  The  discon- 
tented, the  sick,  and  the  lazy  would  naturally  drift  or  be  sent 
there,  and  the  production  of  the  island  would  be  greatly  increased. 
Northern  capital  would  go  there,  and  we  should  be  supplied  ere 
long  almost  entirely  with  sugar  from  that  island,  instead  of  from 
Cuba,  which  gave  us  an  indifferent  market  in  return. 

There  was  no  love  lost  between  the  President  and  Senator 
Sumner,  either  in  the  Santo  Domingo  affair  or  otherwise.  The 
latter  denounced  the  President  as  a  brutal  soldier  who  had  trans- 
formed the  White  House  into  an  army  head-quarters  and  was 
surrounded  with  aides  and  orderlies.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
President  said  little,  even  to  those  who  were  near  him,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Senator,  who  regarded  the  country  as  lost  on  the  re- 
election of  Grant,  whose  majority  was  overwhelming,  although 
the  Senator  had  predicted  his  utter  defeat. 


510  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

The  most  marked  features  of  the  individuality  of  General 
Grant,  in  my  opinion,  were  his  patience,  and  an  apparent  lack  of 
a  sentiment  of  revenge,  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  character  of 
weak  men.  He  would  scarcely  give  expression  to  any  sense  of  the 
disgust  that  must,  in  some  degree  at  least,  be  in  the  mind  of  any 
one  when  he  sees  himself  traduced  and  has  every  reason  to  believe 
that  not  only  is  the  object  malicious,  but  also  that  lying,  pure  and 
simple,  has  been  employed  without  stint. 

In  a  conversation  within  the  past  few  years  with  a  distin- 
guished Senator  from  a  Southern  State,  I  was  not  surprised  to 
find  that  he  was  in  accord  with  the  views  of  General  Grant  in 
relation  to  the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo,  and,  so  far  as  I 
can  judge,  in  practical  humanity  and  in  sympathy  with  the 
colored  race  he  was  far  the  superior  of  the  late  Senator  Sumner, 
whose  vocation  would  have  been  gone  in  great  part  had  there 
been  no  grievance  of  the  negro  to  parade.  In  the  South 
generally,  neither  the  old  master  nor  his  sons  are  disposed  to 
treat  the  colored  man  with  injustice  or  violence ;  but  men  known 
as  the  "  crackers,"  who  can  neither  read  nor  write,  and  who  are 
not  willing  to  learn,  damn  and  otherwise  abuse  the  "  niggers," 
principally  because  as  a  race  they  use  every  endeavor  to  school 
themselves,  perhaps  in  the  vain  hope  that  they  will  then  not 
have  to  labor.  They  wish  to  learn  any  and  every  thing,  with 
very  little  discrimination  as  to  how  useful  it  may  be  in  gaining 
living.  There  is  a  very  great  difference  between  "  schooling" 
and  "  education."  Learning  will  not  make  a  man  useful  unless 
he  has  the  capacity  to  apply  it,  nor  will  it  free  its  possessor  from 
vice,  or  even  crime  of  the  deepest  dye,  even  without  the  acces- 
sory pitfalls  of  drunkenness  and  other  debauchery.  Education 
I  regard  as  that  knowledge  which  best  fits  a  man  to  pursue  the 
vocation  in  life  that  the  Creator  has  destined  him  for,  and  that 
circumstances  will  permit  him  to  pursue. 

What  has  always  seemed  to  me  a  "  craze,"  particularly  after  I 
witnessed  the  many  annoyances  that  General  Grant  had  to  bear 
when  President,  is  the  intense  desire  of  men  in  political  life  to 
become  President  of  the  United  States.  I  find  in  my  notes 
transcribed  when  in  command  of  the  Piscataqua  in  the  Indian 
Ocean,  a  translation  from  some  history  not  noted  at  the  time, 


THE  EPIZOOTY.  51 1 

and  now  forgotten.  It  relates  to  the  death  of  Charles  the  Fifth 
of  France. 

"After  having  placed  under  his  feet  his  perishable  crown,  the 
sacred  crown  of  kings,  he  said,  O  crown  of  France,  how  precious 
thou  art,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  how  vile ! — precious  as  the 
symbol  of  justice,  but  the  vilest  of  things  if  one  considers  the 
labor,  the  anguish,  the  perils  of  the  soul,  the  pains  of  the  heart, 
of  the  conscience,  and  of  the  body,  into  which  thou  throwest 
those  who  bear  thee  !  He  who  should  know  these  things  well 
would  leave  thee  to  lie  in  the  mud,  rather  than  lift  thee  up  in 
order  to  place  thee  on  his  head." 

When  death  came  to  Charles  the  Fifth  of  France,  as  sooner 
or  later  it  will  come  to  all,  whether  princes  or  peasants,  this  was 
the  estimate  he  placed  upon  the  worth  of  having  "  been  born  a 
kiug  and  ruling  by  divine  right."  If  we  add  to  what  he  en- 
dured, all  that  we  may  suppose  to  come  from  the  importunities 
of  political  friends,  who  insist  that  "  without  their  influence  the 
President  could  not  have  been  elected,"  and  the  demands  for 
office  for  their  friends,  often  of  bad  repute,  accompanied  by  an 
intimation  that  if  their  recommendations  are  not  complied  wTith 
"they  will  no  longer  support  the  Administration,"  even  in 
measures  deemed  of  great  import,  and,  further,  the  lying  vitu- 
peration of  political  enemies  simply  because  he  is  the  President, 
it  becomes  a  mystery  to  the  common  mind  why  any  one  should 
give  his  heart  and  soul  to  the  strife  to  be  President.  Better,  like 
Henry  Clay,  say,  "  I  would  sooner  be  right  than  be  President," 
and  remember  Pope,  who  writes, — 

"  Honor  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise  : 
Act  well  your  part;  there  all  the  honor  lies." 

Two  or  three  years  after  I  had  taken  up  my  residence  in  the 
country  the  epizooty  broke  out  in  the  North  and  ravaged  that  sec- 
tion, with  a  gradual  progression  to  the  South  and  West.  It  was 
a  violent  horse  influenza,  and  had  reached  Washington  about 
the  middle  of  March.  If  animals  were  worked  or  uncared  for, 
it  was  very  often  fatal.  As  usual  at  that  season  of  the  year,  the 
weather  was  wet  and  cold,  and  one  morning  when  I  went  into 


512  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

the  city  I  found  not  a  horse-car  running.  In  my  walk  to  the 
Navy  Department  I  passed  a  druggist's,  and  inquired  as  to 
remedies  for  the  epizooty,  and  bought  a  bottle  which  I  was  told 
was  in  use  at  the  North.  I  found  myself  suffering  with  very 
much  the  same  symptoms  as  those  under  which  the  horses  were 
laboring, — a  violent  cough,  sneezing,  and  a  running  at  the  nose, 
— and  sent  a  messenger  to  the  dispensary  for  chlorate  of  potash 
lozenges,  my  usual  remedy  at  that  time  for  such  symptoms. 
There  being  no  lozenges  on  hand,  some  crystals  were  sent  in- 
stead. On  reaching  the  country  in  the  evening  I  had  another 
mile  to  walk  from  the  station  to  my  house,  and,  while  plodding 
along  in  the  mud,  I  observed  the  very  speedy  effect  of  the  chlo- 
rate of  potash  crystals  in  stopping  a  running  at  the  nose,  and 
coughing  and  sneezing.  By  the  time  I  reached  my  stable  I  had 
made  up  my  mind  that  my  symptoms  were  so  similar  to  those 
of  the  horses  suffering  from  the  epizooty  that  I  would  prescribe 
for  mine  in  advance  of  their  attack,  since  its  prevalence  was  so 
universal.  On  handing  the  medicine  that  I  had  bought  of  the 
druggist  to  the  man  at  the  stable,  I  gave  him  also  the  chlorate, 
and  directed  him  to  dissolve  a  teaspoonful  of  the  crystals  in  a 
bucket  of  water  and  give  one-third  of  it  to  each  horse,  with  a 
teaspoonful  of  the  mixture  that  I  had  bought,  administering  the 
dose  twice  a  day.  In  a  few  days  all  the  horses  of  my  neighbors 
were  suffering  with  epizooty,  but  mine  were  not  attacked.  A 
fortnight  later  I  received  a  note  from  a  friend,  Surgeon-General 
Wood,  of  the  navy,  then  just  retired,  in  which  he  stated  casually 
that  his  farm-work  was  much  delayed  from  his  horses  being 
down  with  the  prevailing  epidemic,  but  that  he  found  it  yielded 
very  readily  to  a  treatment  of  chlorate  of  potash.  This  led  me  to 
pay  a  visit  to  General  Grant,  and  state  the  facts,  knowing  that 
he  had  a  considerable  number  of  horses  in  the  West,  and  also 
to  General  Sherman,  there  being  in  the  army  a  large  number  of 
horses  at  that  time.  A  month  later  I  met  General  Grant,  who 
said  to  me,  with  a  smile,  that  I  had  caused  him  to  be  abused  in 
the  newspapers.  I  said  that  I  had  no  recollection  of  having 
said  or  done  anything  that  should  cause  him  to  be  abused.  He 
was  quite  indifferent  to  the  abuse  now,  he  said :  it  happened  to 
be  because  his  sixty-four  horses  near  St.  Louis  had  not  had  the 


A   RATTLESNAKE.  51 3 

epizooty,  while  all  the  other  horses  in  the  county  had  it,  and 
they  said  it  was  Grant's  good  luck  again,  when  it  was  because 
he  had  written  to  the  man  in  charge  of  his  horses  to  adopt  my 
preventive  treatment.  Later  on,  I  saw  the  chlorate  of  potash 
treatment,  as  given  by  me,  published  as  the  army  epizooty  treat- 
ment. 

General  Sherman  drove  out  to  spend  the  day  with  me  about 
that  time,  and  met  Commodore  Guest,  my  brother,  General 
A  in  men,  and  myself,  in  a  hollow,  on  our  way  towards  Vans- 
ville  on  the  top  of  the  hill.  From  long  habit  in  army  life 
General  Sherman  took  in  the  topography  of  the  country  at  a 
glance :  he  asked  what  fool  had  laid  out  this  road  to  take  people 
up  a  hill  just  to  make  them  go  down  on  the  other  side  and  then 
up  another  hill  again.  I  told  him  that  the  road  had  been  laid 
out  sixty  years  before,  when  it  was  supposed  there  was  no  cor- 
ruption in  politics ;  at  the  request  of  two  distinguished  lords  of 
the  soil  the  turnpike  between  Baltimore  and  Washington  had 
by  law  to  pass  through  Belleville  near  the  Agricultural  College, 
and  Vansville,  on  the  top  of  the  hill  he  had  just  passed,  and  in 
consequence  over  half  a  dozen  hills  in  succession  to  a  large  oak, 
to  be  seen  on  the  crest  of  a  hill  nearly  two  miles  distant.  By 
passing  around  the  hill  he  had  ascended,  and  following  up  a 
valley,  an  excellent  road  location  could  have  been  secured  to 
near  that  tree,  instead  of  passing  over  a  succession  of  ridges 
sixty  or  eighty  feet  in  height,  and  making  the  distance  greater 
than  had  the  road  been  properly  laid  out. 

In  the  afternoon  we  went  to  the  house  of  Commodore  Guest, 
and,  returning,  General  Sherman  noticed  a  pair  of  setter  pups 
of  mine  who  had  their  attention  fixed  on  a  spot  in  a  brier-patch 
by  the  roadside.  He  asked  what  it  was  that  they  were  looking 
at.  I  said  I  supposed  they  were  after  field-mice.  He  said  no, 
and  on  looking  closely  saw  they  were  gazing  at  what  he  took  to 
be  a  rattlesnake.  He  told  me  to  get  a  stick  to  kill  it,  and  he 
would  keep  his  eye  on  it  in  the  meantime.  The  stick  was 
brought,  and  the  snake  killed, — a  large  viper,  which  has  yellow 
and  black  spots  quite  like  those  of  a  rattlesnake.  It  is  venomous, 
but  rarely  fatal,  from  having  weak  fangs  and  withdrawing  them 
quickly  on  striking.     I  have  never  known  of  more  than  two 

33 


514  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

persons  who  have  been  bitten  by  them,  although  they  are  com- 
mon in  this  region ;  one  of  these  persons  was  my  friend  Surgeon- 
General  Wood,  of  whom  I  have  just  made  mention,  and  the 
other  was  a  colored  man  of  whom  he  wrote  me.  Wood  went 
into  his  garden,  and  was  picking  some  vegetables,  when  he  felt 
a  sharp  prick  in  the  palm  of  his  hand.  He  supposed  it  to  be 
from  a  brier  or  a  species  of  weed  that  is  quite  prickly  and  very 
common  here,  botanical ly  of  the  potato  family.  He  paid  no 
attention  to  it,  until  his  hand  and  arm  began  to  swell  greatly, 
and  then  on  an  examination  he  saw  the  marks  of  four  teeth  in 
the  palm  of  his  hand.  He  had  the  garden  searched  at  the  spot 
where  he  had  received  his  bite.  The  viper  was  found  under  a 
cabbage- plant.  These  reptiles  are  extremely  sluggish,  and  I 
suppose  often  pass  a  whole  season  without  getting  one  hundred 
yards  from  their  place  of  hibernation.  Wood  suffered  intensely, 
and  his  remedies  seemed  of  little  avail  until  he  adopted  a  sug- 
gestion of  his  daughter,  which  was  to  burn  woollen  rags  and 
hold  his  hand  over  them,  so  as  to  get  the  smoke.  From  this 
he  derived  the  greatest  relief:  he  wrote  me  that  he  thought  he 
would  have  died  without  this  accessory  treatment.  In  his  let- 
ter to  me  he  described  the  agony  he  suffered,  and  the  fantastic 
dreams  caused  by  the  poison.  A  few  months  later  he  saw  a 
pleasant-featured  negro  man  who  had  lost  a  leg,  and,  feeling 
some  interest  in  him,  inquired  how  he  had  lost  it.  He  was 
informed  that  it  had  been  by  the  bite  of  a  viper :  he  had  lain 
down  on  a  brush-heap  and  had  been  bitten,  and  it  had  been 
found  necessary  to  cut  off  his  leg  to  save  his  life.  The  man  de- 
scribed his  sensations  with  such  accuracy,  and  they  so  resembled 
those  that  had  been  experienced  by  Dr.  Wood,  that  the  latter 
was  quite  startled  by  the  narration. 

In  September,  1874,  on  the  invitation  of  General  Sherman,  I 
attended  one  of  the  annual  reunions  of  the  Army  of  the  Cum- 
berland, held  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  for  the  first  time  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  General  Sheridan,  also  General  Hayes,  who 
afterwards  became  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  attendance  of  the  survivors  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumber- 
land was  quite  large,  several  thousand  in  number.  We  were 
shown  the  public  buildings,  and  visited,  among  other  points  of 


THE  FATE  OF  GENERAL  GRANT'S  HORSE,  CINCINNATI.  515 

interest,  an  exhibition  at  the  Institution  for  Mutes,  which  was 
an  entire  revelation  to  me.  Ever  since  I  have  rejected  the 
ordinary  name  of  "  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylums."  The  Institu- 
tion was  admirably  kept,  and  the  faces  of  the  inmates  were 
quite  attractive.  A  mute  about  twenty-five  years  of  age  gave 
in  pantomime  a  comical  exhibition,  alternating  ^in  character, 
between  a  patient  who  had  been  grievously  wounded  in  his  leg, 
and  the  physician  who  attended  him.  Finally  the  leg  was 
sawed  off",  and  the  patient  hobbled  out  on  the  other  leg  with  the 
aid  of  crutches,  and  a  look  of  supreme  satisfaction  on  his  face. 
Several  of  the  mutes  recited  in  sign-language  "  Sheridan's  Ride," 
with  wonderful  effect  on  the  audience,  whether  mutes  or  persons 
who  knew  nothing  of  the  sign-language,  doubtless  in  great  part 
from  the  visitors  looking  at  the  audience  of  mutes. 

On  my  return  home,  some  days  later,  I  found  that  General 
Grant's  famous  horse  Cincinnati,  mentioned  in  the  account  of 
my  visit  to  Culpeper,  had  either  broken  a  fore-leg  by  accident  in 
a  field  where  it  seemed  impossible  that  such  an  accident  should 
occur,  or  else  it  had  been  designedly  broken  by  some  fiend. 
This  latter  supposition,  however,  I  was  not  willing*  to  credit. 
The  poor  animal  had  walked  around  all  the  night  of  the  18th, 
almost  in  a  circle,  and  in  the  morning  my  brother,  seeing  his 
hopeless  plight,  had  him  shot  to  spare  him  further  suffering. 

These  reunions  of  old  soldiers  and  officers  in  times  past  were 
joyous  occasions,  but  as  the  years  have  rolled  on  and  the  ranks 
have  greatly  thinned,  and  age  and  infirmity  have  come  upon 
many,  they  are  now  rather  like  meetings  of  sympathy  and  of 
sorrow.  Such  seemed  to  me  an  immense  assemblage  at  Colum- 
bus two  years  ago,  perhaps  fifty  thousand  men,  many  of  them 
crippled,  who  had  come  from  all  over  the  country  to  meet  their 
old  comrades,  as  many  of  them  said,  for  the  last  time.  It  was  a 
meeting  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  an  institution  that 
does  much  good  in  taking  care  of  the  families  of  those  who 
belong  to  the  organization  who  stand  in  need  of  aid,  and  on 
account  of  this  feature,  I  became  a  companion. 

I  dropped  in  to  see  General  Sheridan  after  one  of  his  visits 
to  the  Far  West  in  1884.  After  speaking  of  other  matters,  he 
said  that  the  Indians  would  no  longer  be  formidable.     Instead 


516  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

of  relying  on  ponies  to  transport  their  families  and  tepees,  they 
had  adopted  modern  improvements  and  possessed  themselves  of 
light  wagons,  buggies,  and  anything  they  could  tie  their  ponies 
to  by  means  of  ropes,  thongs,  or  harness  if  they  had  it.  Then 
the  vehicles  would  be  piled  full  of  squaws  and  pappooses  and 
away  they  would  go  over  the  country  in  grand  style.  Should 
we  have  difficulties  with  them  it  would  now  be  an  easy  matter 
to  put  our  finger  on  them ;  they  would  be  powerless,  incapable 
of  flight  or  of  finding  a  refuge  where  they  could  not  be  readily 
reached. 

Ever  since  our  government  Isthmian  surveys  began,  Nica- 
ragua has  at  various  times  sent  able  men  as  ministers  to  our 
government.  One  of  the  earliest  of  these  was  Don  Emilio 
Benard,  a  gentleman  of  French  parentage  who  received  a  con- 
siderable part  of  his  instruction  in  Europe.  He  was  in  every 
respect  a  most  attractive  and  agreeable  gentleman.  He  died  in 
October,  1879,  universally  regretted,  and  a  great  loss  to  his 
country.  His  assistant  was  Don  Max  Sonnestern,  a  German 
by  birth,  and  a  civil  engineer  by  profession,  who  had  gone 
to  Central  America  when  no  longer  young,  and  there  learned 
Spanish  and  perhaps  English.  His  sympathies  were  world-wide, 
and  his  language  composite,  using  the  word  of  any  one  of  the 
three  languages  that  came  uppermost.  This  peculiarity  pre- 
vented persons  who  understood  but  one  language  from  having  a 
clear  comprehension  of  what  he  wished  to  express,  but  with  a 
linguist  his  ideas  as  expressed  were  comprehended  and  valued. 
A  few  days  before  he  was  to  leave  for  Nicaragua  he  paid  me  a 
visit,  and  said  partly  in  English  and  partly  in  the  other  two 
languages  that  he  was  about  leaving,  and  had  not  seen  the 
President ;  should  he  return  to  Nicaragua  without  having  seen 
him,  he  would  be  asked  what  good  had  come  of  his  visit  to 
Washington.  "Very  well,"  said  I;  "do  you  wish  to  see  him 
now  ?"  He  said  the  sooner  the  better,  as  he  would  leave  the 
city  in  a  day  or  two.  We  went  immediately  to  the  White 
House,  sent  in  our  cards,  and  were  received  by  the  President, 
who  asked  us  to  take  seats,  and  began  a  jocular  conversation 
with  me,  as  was  his  habit.  We  passed  an  hour  or  more  very 
pleasantly,  and  then  took  our  leave.     When  we  got  into  the  street 


HON  ALEXANDER  H  STEPHENS.  51 7 

Don  Max  was  in  a  superlative  mood.  He  said,  "  Now  I  have 
seen  the  President,  I  can  go  back  to  Nicaragua  !  I  wish  to  have 
the  honor  of  taking  you  to  the  depot,"  where  he  knew  I  went 
daily  to  go  into  the  country.  I  told  him  the  train  would  not  leave 
for  some  time,  and  I  would  go  as  I  usually  did, — in  the  street- 
cars. Don  Max  was  importunate,  and  would  not  hear  of  it ; 
he  called  a  cab,  and  insisted  upon  my  getting  in,  that  he  might 
have  the  honor  of  taking  me  to  the  depot.  On  our  arrival  he 
took  formal  leave  of  me ;  and  as  I  sat  half  an  hour  waiting 
for  the  train  to  leave,  I  thought  of  the  man  who,  after  having 
been  ridden  on  a  rail,  gravely  said  that  he  was  grateful  to  his 
fellow-citizens  for  the  attention  they  had  shown  him,  but  had  it 
not  been  for  the  honor  of  the  thing  he  would  have  preferred 
walking. 

Don  Max  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Captain  McRitchie, 
who  commanded  the  Tallapoosa.  McRitchie  had  spoken  at 
times  of  his  boy,  and  Don  Max  determined  to  present  him  with 
the  most  stunning  suit  of  clothes  that  could  be  found  for  sale, 
which  he  sent  with  his  compliments  as  a  token  of  recognition  of 
the  attention  McRitchie  had  shown  him.  The  clothing  was  for 
a  ten-year-old  boy,  when  the  "  boy"  was  actually  larger  than  his 
father.  Long  live  Don  Max  !  Everybody  knows  him  in  Nic- 
aragua, and  nobody  knows  him  who  does  not  admire  his  generous 
nature. 

Several  years  before  my  retirement,  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  and  subsequently  during 
his  residence  in  Washington  I  was  a  frequent  and  welcome  visitor 
at  his  house.  Every  one  who  knew  Mr.  Stephens  well  had  a 
strong  personal  attachment  for  him.  Physically,  he  was  quite 
small  and  weak :  the  wonder  to  me  was  that  he  could  last  a 
month  from  the  time  I  first  knew  him  ;  and  yet  he  lived  for 
years  ;  his  was  not  a  listless  existence,  either,  but  one  of  a  mental 
activity  that  was  truly  wonderful.  He  had  been  paralyzed  for 
years  when  I  first  met  him ;  I  always  found  him  seated  in  his 
wheel-chair,  which  he  turned  and  managed  in  transit  with  great 
dexterity.  He  was  affectionately  attached  to  General  Grant 
personally,  and  admired  him  greatly.  He  told  me  that  his 
Southern  friends  would  come  to  him  during  the  period  of  great 


518  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

anxiety  prior  to  the  inauguration  of  President  Hayes  and  say, 
"Is  General  Grant  bringing  these  troops  here  to  inaugurate 
Hayes  ?"  "  No,"  said  Mr.  Stephens ;  "  he  is  bringing  troops 
here,  if  at  all,  for  the  prevention  of  disorder,  and  nothing  else." 
General  Grant  was  no  less  attached  to  Mr.  Stephens,  and  fre- 
quently spoke  of  first  meeting  him  at  the  Peace  Conference  at 
Hampton  Roads.  He  was  all  wrapped  up  in  clothing,  and  over 
all  an  ulster  that  reached  to  his  heels.  Mr.  Lincoln  on  seeing 
him  remarked  that  "  he  had  never  seen  so  small  an  ear  that  had 
so  large  a  shuck." 

Mr.  Stephens,  like  myself,  looked  upon  the  construction  of  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  by  our  people  as  of  vital  importance  to  us,  and 
only  ten  days  before  his  death  he  wrote  me  a  long  letter,  from 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  when  Governor  of  his  State,  in  which,  after 
stating  the  whole  question  in  a  very  able  manner,  he  said  that 
his  only  regret  was  that  he  could  not  be  in  Washington  to  for- 
ward the  measure. 

About  the  middle  of  November,  1875, 1  was  in  Philadelphia, 
and  called  to  pay  my  respects  to  Mr.  George  W.  Childs,  to  whom 
I  was  indebted  for  courtesies  when  at  Long  Branch  on  a  visit  to 
General  Grant.  He  was  good  enough  to  invite  me  to  dine  with 
him  on  that  or  the  following  day,  which  I  was  pleased  to  do.  I 
went  a  few  minutes  in  advance  of  the  hour  named,  in  order  to 
have  a  little  chat  with  Mr.  Childs,  and  when  I  went  into  the 
room  I  found  Vice-President  Henry  Wilson  in  conversation 
with  him.  I  complimented  Mr.  Wilson  on  his  ruddy  appear- 
ance ;  he  seemed  the  picture  of  health,  and  likely  to  live  many 
years.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  an  introduction  to  Lord  Houghton, 
as  well  as  to  several  distinguished  countrymen  of  our  own,  and 
was  seated  at  dinner  directly  opposite  Mr.  Wilson.  The  occa- 
sion was  a  very  pleasant  one  and  the  conversation  animated. 
Two  days  later,  I  read  with  great  regret  that  Vice-President 
Wilson  had  been  stricken  with  paralysis  in  the  Capitol  build- 
ing in  Washington ;  he  never  rallied,  and  died  a  few  days 
later. 

Some  months  before  President  Grant  left  the  White  House, 
when  discussing  his  intended  travels,  I  said,  "  When  you  get  to 
the  island  of  Penang,  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca,  don't  forget  to 


A    VISIT  TO   OHIO    WITH  GENERAL   GRANT.  51 9 

get  some  lawyers ;  indeed,  I  shall  be  very  much  obliged  if  you 
will  bring  me  one." 

"  Lawyers/'  said  the  general :  "  have  we  not  enough  lawyers 
already  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  "  such  as  they  are  ;  but  the  Penang  lawyer  is 
different :  it  is  a  very  tough  cane,  with  a  knob  on  the  end.  I 
suppose  they  call  them  lawyers  because  if  one  is  used  against  an 
adversary,  the  one  with  the  lawyer  gets  the  best  of  the  argu- 
ment.    Indeed,  it  may  be  called  a  knock-down  conclusion." 

After  the  return  of  the  general  from  his  travels,  although  I 
met  him  on  several  occasions,  he  made  no  allusion  to  Penang, 
and  the  conversation  was  lost  sight  of  by  me.  A  month  after 
his  death,  Harrison  Terrell,  his  body-servant,  brought  me  a 
bundle  wrapped  in  canvas,  in  which  I  found  five  Penang  law- 
yers, which  General  Grant  had  told  him  to  give  to  me  when  he 
returned  to  Washington. 

On  the  4th  of  March  General  Grant's  second  term  as  Presi- 
dent expired.  For  a  year  or  more  prior  to  that  time,  he  fre- 
quently said,  with  a  smile  of  satisfaction,  that  he  counted  the 
days  when  he  would  leave,  like  a  school-boy  looking  forward  to 
the  holidays.  He  had  told  me  of  his  intended  visit  to  Ohio 
before  going  abroad,  and  asked  me  to  accompany  him,  which  I 
did  in  the  early  part  of  April.  He  was  accompanied  by  Mrs. 
Grant  and  myself  only.  We  went  first  to  Cincinnati,  where  we 
were  the  guests  of  Mr.  Washington  McLean,  a  gentleman  well 
known  for  his  hospitality  and  cleverness. 

The  weather  continued  raw,  and  Mrs.  Grant  preferred  to  re- 
main in  the  city  while  the  general  and  myself  paid  a  visit  to 
Georgetown.  We  left  early  in  the  morning  on  the  10th  of  April 
in  a  light  carriage  with  two  wiry  young  horses.  The  roads  were 
fairly  good  until  we  reached  Batavia,  a  distance  of  some  twentv 
miles,  arid  were  not  very  bad  until  we  left  Bethel,  a  distance 
of  about  fifteen  miles  from  our  destination.  As  a  choice,  the 
general  drove  around  by  New  Hope.  As  we  descended  a  muddy 
hill-side  the  .carriage  was  nearly  up  to  the  hub  in  a  tenacious 
clay,  and  we  should  have  stuck  fast  had  we  been  going  up-  in- 
stead of  down-hill.  Our  arrival  was  expected  ;  it  was  an  event 
for  a  quiet  village.     It  was  near  sunset,  yet  we  were  received 


520  THE  OLD   NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

with  distinguished  honors,  and  were  the  guests  of  Aunt  Betsy 
King,  who  was  a  woman  of  thirty-five  when  we  were  some  six 
and  eight  years  of  age,  I  being  about  two  years  the  senior  of  the 
general.  The  next  day  there  was  a  brass  band  in  attendance ; 
and  the  court  adjourned  to  allow  the  general  to  have  a  reception 
on  the  spot.  Our  hostess  yet  lives,  venerable  in  years  and  gifted 
with  the  affection  of  all  who  know  her.  Even  then  there  were 
few  whom  we  had  known  as  children ;  some  of  these  were  poor 
and  helpless,  and  were  made  glad  with  the  charity  that  was 
bestowed  by  the  general. 

I  preceded  the  general  to  Washington,  having  my  official 
duties  to  perform.  When  he  arrived  he  discussed  his  itinerary 
for  an  intended  absence  of  two  years.  He  left  Philadelphia  in 
May  ;  and  had  he  been  a  monarch,  and  arranged  a  grand  occasion 
without  regard  to  cost,  nothing  more  enthusiastic  in  the  way  of 
a  popular  demonstration  would  have  been  possible.  Shortly 
after  the  Navy  Department  extended  to  him  an  invitation  to 
make  use  of  our  vessels-of-war  in  the  Mediterranean,  a  circum- 
stance which  caused  a  great  deal  of  low  abuse  from  vile  news- 
papers. Later  on,  when  it  was  a  question  of  the  general's  going 
to  British  India,  and  thence  to  China  and  Japan,  the  Navy  De- 
partment wrote  him,  as  I  was  told  under  instructions  from  the 
President,  after  a  Cabinet  meeting.  The  general  was  informed 
that  the  flag-ship  Richmond  would  probably  sail  about  the  10th  of 
December  and  would  reach  Ceylon  about  the  middle  of  January. 
The  letter  states,  "  If  it  is  your  purpose  to  visit  British  India, 
China,  and  Japan,  it  is  possible  that  this  vessel,  being  a  flag-ship, 
will  afford  you  more  facilities  and  conveniences  of  travel  than 
you  will  be  likely  to  obtain  by  any  other  conveyance  ;  and  if 
you  consider  it  desirable  to  join  her  en  route  to  her  station,  upon 
notification  of  the  fact  the  Department  will  immediately  issue 
the  necessary  orders  to  carry  out  your  wishes.  .  .  . 

"  This  route  would  undoubtedly  furnish  to  you  many  oppor- 
tunities of  interesting  observation  and  research,  and  if  you  shall 
conclude  to  avail  yourself  of  the  advantages  of  travel  offered 
by  the  Richmond,  the  Department  feels  assured  that,  apart  from 
the  personal  gratification  to  yourself  of  observing  the  tastes, 
customs,  and  wants  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  visited, 


GENERAL    GRANT'S   TRIP  ABROAD.  521 

your  intercourse  with  them  would  lead  to  more  extended  and 
intimate  commercial  relations  between  them  and  the  United 
States.  It  is  believed  that  your  presence  on  board  of  a  man- 
of-war  in  the  ports  visited  by  the  Richmond  will  so  arrest 
public  attention  as  to  bring  prominently  into  view  not  merely 
the  character  and  extent  of  our  commerce,  but  the  nature  and 
extent  of  our  institutions." 

As  clearly  appears  from  the  above,  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  President  so  to  arrauge  the  visit  of  General  Grant  to  the 
East  as  to  make  it  one  of  importance  diplomatically  and  com- 
mercially, and  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  his  visit  to  China 
and  Japan  did  more  to  bring  us  into  confidential  relations  with 
the  people  of  those  countries  than  any  other  event  in  our  past 
history,  save  the  opening  of  the  ports  of  Japan  through  the 
ability  of  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry. 

During  General  Grant's  tour  he  wrote  me  fifteen  or  twenty 
letters,  some  of  them  of  six  or  eight  pages,  and  all  of  them 
describing  the  countries  he  visited.  Extracts  from  several  of 
them  are  to  be  found  in  my  "Recollections  of  Grant/'  in  the 
North  American  Review  for  1885.  They  all  show  acute  powers 
of  observation,  and  give  expression  to  his  ideas  in  relation  to 
the  different  peoples  of  whom  he  wrote.  In  one  of  them  he 
said  that  before  a  half-century  we  should  have  more  of  the 
Chinese  than  we  could  conveniently  handle.  In  a  subsequent 
conversation  he  said  that  the  Chinese  would  soon  import  ma- 
chinery for  the  fabrication  of  cotton,  and  soon  after  the  opening 
of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  they  would  require  more  raw  cotton 
from  us  than  our  entire  crop  then  grown,  which  was  some  five 
millions  of  bales,  and  added  that  there  was  not  such  another 
cotton-producing  region  on  the  globe  as  that  of  Arkansas,  and 
the  adjacent  cotton-growing  lands. 

In  one  of  his  letters  from  Southern  Europe  he  wrote  me  that 
he  had  abandoned  the  idea  of  going  around  the  world,  and 
would  return  home  the  following  spring  or  summer.  A  day  or 
so  after  the  receipt  of  this  letter  I  met  General  Sherman,  and 
told  him  the  contents  of  the  letter,  and  that  I  had  written  at 
once  and  urged  the  general  not  to  give  up  his  voyage  as  origi- 
nally intended.     General  Sherman  told  me  that  he  had  received 


522  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND   THE  NEW. 

a  letter  of  the  same  tenor,  and  had  written  him  immediately,  as 
I  had  done,  not  to  abandon  his  original  intention.  A  month 
later,  I  received  another  letter  from  the  general,  stating  that 
when  he  had  abandoned  the  idea  of  his  long  voyage  he  had 
destroyed  the  itinerary  for  his  guidance,  and  that  he  wished  me 
to  send  another  without  delay.  In  preceding  pages  relating  to 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  I  mention  a  telegram  and  letters  received 
from  General  Grant  when  in  Tokio.  The  photo-lithograph  of 
one  of  them,  given  in  the  Appendix,  cannot  fail  to  interest  the 
reader. 

After  his  arrival  in  California,  where  he  visited  several  points 
of  interest,  coming  East,  lie  tarried  a  few  days  in  Galena  and  in 
Chicago.  He  wrote  me  briefly  from  both  places,  and  named  a 
day  when  he  wished  me  to  meet  him  in  Philadelphia.  His 
reception  on  his  arrival  at  that  city,  about  noon,  was  the  most 
extraordinary  I  have  ever  seen,  and  after  night  there  was  a 
torchlight  procession  that  seemed,  as  it  passed  under  an  archway 
thrown  across  Chestnut  Street  at  the  Continental  Hotel,  as 
though  it  would  have  no  end. 

On  their  arrival  the  general  and  Mrs.  Grant  were  in  excellent 
health  and  spirits,  notwithstanding  the  fatigues  of  travel  and 
receptions  journeying  eastward.  In  a  private  conversation  he 
told  me  his  son  in  business  had  been  quite  successful,  and  by 
judicious  investments  had  increased  his  means  some  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars.  This  was  gratifying  to  me,  because,  although  the 
general  was  extremely  simple  in  his  personal  wants,  his  family 
expenses  were  considerable.  I  observed  at  dinner  and  on  other 
occasions  that  he  abstained  entirely  from  wines  or  liquors,  as  he 
had  done  during  the  last  year  or  more  of  his  Presidency.  He 
had  a  high  opinion  of  the  Japanese,  chatting,  when  dining, 
about  their  many  good  qualities.  He  had  been  in  a  village  of 
fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  and,  observing  that  there  were  no 
fastenings  on  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  houses,  asked  the 
reason,  and  was  told,  of  course,  that  there  was  no  necessity  for 
them.  My  wife  said,  "  Ammen  tells  me  that  Japanese  babies 
don't  cry,  but  I  say  he  would  know  better  if  he  had  lived  in  a 
house  with  them."  "  No,"  said  the  general,  with  a  droll  smile, 
"  Ammen  is  quite  right :  Japanese  babies  don't  cry."     That  was 


THE  CONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  NICARAGUA    CANAL.      523 

the  last  social  occasion  upon  which  I  met  the  general  and  Mrs. 
Grant. 

During  General  Grant's  absence  I  had  reached  the  rank  of 
rear-admiral,  and  at  my  request,  under  the  provisions  of  a 
general  law,  was  placed  on  the  retired  list,  five  years  before  it 
would  have  been  compulsory,  for  reasons  that  may  be  inferred 
from  what  I  have  said  in  these  pages.  Ever  since  my  retire- 
ment I  have  endeavored  to  promote  naval  efficiency  and  national 
interests  through  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  under 
the  tacit  or  actual  control  of  our  government,  as  our  legislators 
might  prefer. 

Some  two  or  more  years  ago,  Mr.  Whitney,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  convened  a  Board  to  provide  life-boats  for  the  navy, 
which  made  a  report  that  was  not  satisfactory  to  him.  I  then 
thought  it  opportune  to  call  his  attention  to  what  is  known  in 
the  navy  as  the  "  Ammen  Balsa,"  already  mentioned  as  in  use 
in  the  navy  for  more  than  twenty  years.  I  suggested  modi- 
fications which  in  my  belief  would  make  it  the  best  life-raft 
known  to  seamen.  The  "  balsa,"  was  designed  to  land  field- 
artillery,  ammunition,  and  troops  on  an  exposed  beach,  as  was 
found  necessary  to  be  done  north  of  Fort  Fisher,  during  our 
civil  war. 

This  letter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Chief  Clerk  of 
the  Navy  Department,  but  I  never  received  an  official  notice  of 
its  receipt.  Although  busily  engaged  in  matters  of  interest,  I 
turned  my  attention  to  a  practical  development,  not  only  in 
relation  to  the  construction  of  the  raft,  but  also  as  to  the  means 
by  which  it  could  be  launched  and  passengers  be  safely  and 
speedily  "  chuted"  upon  it,  a  matter  of  equal  moment  in  the 
case  of  passenger  steamers,  where  under  ordinary  conditions  all 
the  passengers  would  go  down  with  the  vessel  if  she  should 
sink  from  collision  or  other  cause.  This  is  not  a  mere  assertion 
of  mine,  but  was  truly  and  forcibly  stated  by  Colonel  Richard- 
son, a  correspondent  of  the  Baltimore  Sun,  some  time  ago,  on 
his  return  home  after  a  trip  across  the  Atlantic.  After  pro- 
voking delays,  I  have  just  now  (November,  1890)  had  com- 
pleted by  Mr.  Waters,  of  Troy,  New  York,  at  my  own  expense, 
a  life-raft  which  I  have  reason  to  believe  will  fulfil  its  pur- 


524  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

pose  in  a  satisfactory  manner  and  will  be  less  expensive  than 
the  inefficient  life-boats,  as  they  are  styled,  with  which  ocean- 
steamers  are  now  provided. 

It  is  gratifying  to  believe  that  I  have  aided  some  of  my 
worthy  friends  of  the  South  to  better  their  fortune,  and  I  am 
willing  to  regard  it  as  a  fact  that  the  virtues  of  myself  and 
many  others  who  served  our  flag  during  the  civil  war  were 
rather  geographical  than  inherent  in  us  as  individuals.  It  is 
self-evident  that  had  we  been  under  other  influences  geographi- 
cally, and  had  our  antagonists  been  subjected  to  those  that  in  a 
great  degree  controlled  us,  our  roles  during  the  civil  war  would 
have  been  reversed  in  almost  every  individual  case ;  yet  I  take 
it  as  established  that  the  success  of  our  arms  was  no  less  neces- 
sary to  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  South  than  it  was  to 
those  of  the  people  of  the  North. 

It  is  well  known  that  among  the  comrades  of  the  old  army 
and  navy  a  kindly  feeling  has  existed  ever  since  the  end  of  the 
civil  war,  and  this  has  extended  to  endeavors  at  various  times 
to  aid  our  Southern  friends.  On  the  death  of  Captain  Patter- 
son, Superintendent  of  the  Coast  Survey,  a  dozen  years  ago, 
Rear- Admiral  John  Rodgers  drew  up  a  paper  of  recommenda- 
tion of  John  M.  Brooke,  then  Superintendent  of  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute,  which  was  signed  by  all  the  navy  officers  of 
rank  who  knew  Mr.  Brooke.  Unhappily  for  the  appointing 
power,  this  recommendation  was  unheeded.  Years  before  the 
civil  war  at  times  I  visited  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  then  a 
captain  of  engineers,  and  I  have  always  had  a  high  appreciation 
of  his  character  as  a  man  and  a  soldier.  Some  years  ago,  meet- 
ing him  in  a  street-car  in  Washington,  I  was  pleased  to  observe 
that,  notwithstanding  the  weight  of  eighty-odd  years  which  he 
bore,  he  was  still  hale  and  active.  On  expressing  my  pleasure 
at  meeting  him,  he  said,  with  a  smile,  that  a  man  a  few  days 
before  had  addressed  him  as  Admiral  Ammen,  and  he  had  given 
him  a  quarter  of  a  dollar.  I  replied  that  the  man  was  unfor- 
tunate in  my  not  being  near  at  hand  at  the  time,  as  I  certainly 
would  have  given  him  another. 

In  considering  the  civil  war,  were  the  motives  of  individuals 
on  both  sides  regarded,  and  not  the  objects  in  view,  in  my  belief 


CLOSING  REMARKS.  525 

there  would  be  a  more  kindly  feeling  in  the  minds  of  many  per- 
sons. I  may  say  that  I  have  met  but  one  intelligent  individual 
who  fought  against  us  with  whom  I  could  not  honestly  fraternize. 
I  have  the  honor  to  belong  to  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United 
States,  an  organization  which  Companions  may  regard  with 
pride.  In  the  different  assemblages  for  conviviality,  and  with 
the  higher  motive  of  fostering  a  broad  and  earnest  sentiment  of 
nationality,  I  have  never  heard  expressed  ideas  that  would  have 
been  objected  to  by  any  reasonable  man  who  fought  against  us, 
and  I  feel  sure  that  the  large  majority  of  the  Companions  of 
that  Order  have  done  quite  as  much  as  myself,  and  many  of 
them  much  more,  in  advancing  the  interests  of  those  who  fought 
against  us. 

It  is  my  belief  that  it  would  be  agreeable  to  a  very  large 
majority  of  the  Companions  of  the  Loyal  Legion  to  see  formed 
of  Southern  men  an  extended  Association  having  a  common 
head  and  common  objects  with  those  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  and 
I  doubt  not  were  the  members  as  carefully  self-constituted  there 
would  be  an  earnest  feeling  of  fraternization  between  the  two 
organizations.  Our  great  leaders,  Generals  Grant  and  Sherman, 
and  others  whom  I  need  not  name,  have  done  all  in  their  power 
to  advance  the  fortunes  of  our  late  opponents,  whose  motives  we 
should  not  question,  yet  whose  object  we  may  believe  to  have 
been  illusory  and  baneful. 

In  the  future  we  may  hope  from  those  who  fought  against  us, 
and  from  their  descendants,  an  earnest  desire  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  our  common  country,  and  a  sentiment  of  broad  nation- 
ality. The  unhappy  past  was  not  of  their  seeking,  nor  of  ours ; 
they  fought  out  gallantly  and  unselfishly  the  solution  of  the 
issues  that  were  presented,  and  have  added  another  to  the  nu- 
merous historic  disproofs  of  that  extraordinary  fallacy  that  "  the 
pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword."  During  our  civil  war  Captain 
Percival  Drayton,  a  South  Carolinian,  of  great  professional  and 
personal  merit,  pointed  out  to  me  the  absurdity  of  this  generally 
accepted  aphorism.  He  said  that  the  pen  actually  provoked  all 
the  great  contests  that  had  to  be  settled  by  the  sword.  At  the 
end  of  our  civil  war  our  great  leader  said,  "  Let  us  have  peace/' 
and  had  it  depended  upon  the  leaders  in  the  field,  and  their  fol- 


526  THE  OLD  NAVY  AND    THE  NEW. 

lowers,  peace  would  have  existed  from  the  time  the  forces  hostile 
to  the  Union  had  laid  down  their  arms. 

Now  that  I  have  come  to  the  end,  many  memories,  extending 
over  half  a  century,  rise  before  my  mental  vision,  of  like  import 
to  those  found  in  the  preceding  pages,  and  with  them,  all  un- 
schooled in  Latin  though  I  am,  comes,  quite  unbidden,  Quantum 
sufficit. 


F.  e'JUKUNST,    PRINT. 


APPENDIX. 


For  several  years  I  have  been  anxious  that  the  following  letters  should 
be  published  in  some  form  that  might  enable  the  public  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  impressions  General  Grant  had  of  the  various  peoples 
and  countries  he  had  visited  in  his  tour  around  the  world,  as  well  as  the 
deep  interest  he  felt  in  the  project  of  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  by  an  American  company,  under  such  governmental  control  as 
should  free  it  forever  from  the  malign  influences  of  "  bulls"  and  "  bears," 
and  be  a  warrant  that  the  company  could  not  drift  off  into  devious  ways. 

In  October  last  the  very  generous  concession  granted  by  the  Nicaraguan 
government  was  definitely  confirmed,  the  company  having  complied  with 
the  demands  of  the  grant.  The  expenditures  already  made  have  yielded 
the  most  gratifying  results  ;  and  thus  far  the  company  has  not  asked  the 
public  to  invest  in  what  might  by  uninformed  persons  be  regarded  as  not 
an  assured  commercial  success.  No  intelligent  man,  however,  can  ex- 
amine the  very  thorough  data  now  obtainable  on  every  point  involved  in 
the  construction  of  the  canal,  sanitary,  engineering,  or  commercial,  and 
have  a  doubt  as  to  the  success  of  this  great  work,  and  the  munificent 
reward  it  will  yield  as  soon  as  operative, — which  may  well  be  within  five 
years  from  this  date. 

My  anxiety  to  have  these  letters  published  grew  out  of  the  fact  that, 
despite  all  my  care,  some  of  them  had  disappeared,  and  one  of  those  that 
remained  had  been  mutilated  in  order  to  obtain  the  autograph  of  the 
general :  it  is  a  silent  witness  to  the  fact  that  some  individual  was  willing 
to  break  the  seventh  commandment  to  possess  himself  of  the  coveted 
signature.  I  began  to  fear  that  should  I  die  before  the  publication  of 
these  letters  they  might  be  scattered  or  lost.  Brief  as  they  are  in  ex- 
pression, they  give  well-defined  ideas  of  men  and  things  as  General  Grant 
saw  them. 

It  may  interest  the  public  to  know  of  my  early  and  later  personal 
relations  with  General  Grant,  which  began  in  1828,  when  I  was  eight 
years  of  age,  he  being  two  years  my  junior.  Our  intimacy  continued 
until  I  left  home  on  the  20th  of  November,  1836,  in  charge  of  Thomas  L. 
Ilamer,  our  member  of  Congress,  to  enter  the  United  States  navy.  Three 
years  later  Mr.  Hamer  got  an  appointment  for  Ulysses  S.  Grant  to  the 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  On  his  graduating,  in  June,  1843,  he 
wrote  me  that  he  would  be  at  Jones's  Hotel  in  Philadelphia  at  a  given 

527 


528  APPENDIX. 

time,  and  there  I  met  him  accordingly,  and  we  spent  several  hours 
together. 

In  February,  1864,  he  was  commissioned  lieutenant-general  of  our 
armies.  He  was  then  at  Nashville,  Tennessee.  I  had  been  relieved  from 
sea-duty,  and  was  on  my  way  from  New  York  to  Ohio,  and  stopped  off  at 
Baltimore  a  few  days  to  visit  friends,  among  others,  the  wife  of  Jerome 
Bonaparte,  the  son  of  Mrs.  Patterson  of  that  city.  Mrs.  Bonaparte  was 
an  out-and-out  "Union  woman,"  and  there  were  few  of  that  class  in 
Baltimore  at  that  time.  She  was  very  clever,  and  remarked  that  already 
the  newspapers  were  proposing  to  make  Grant  a  political  general,  which 
if  accomplished  would  destroy  his  usefulness  in  the  field.  I  told  her  that 
the  general  and  myself  had  been  playmates  as  children,  twenty-eight 
years  before,  and  that  we  had  met  seven  years  later  for  a  few  hours,  and, 
although  there  had  been  no  correspondence  between  us  in  all  these  years, 
I  felt  sure  that  he  had  a  kind  regard  for  me,  and  that  he  would  not  be 
offended  should  I  write  him  a  warning  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  destroyed 
by  injudicious  friends,  who  were  endeavoring  to  inspire  him  with  political 
ambition.  I  accordingly  wrote  to  that  effect  after  reaching  Ohio,  and  the 
first  letter  given  in  the  following  pages  is  the  general's  reply.  Its  text 
follows  very  closely  my  line  of  presentation  of  the  subject. 

Six  weeks  later,  General  Grant  was  at  Hampton  Roads  to  arrange  a 
plan  of  action  against  Richmond  with  Rear-Admiral  Lee,  commanding 
our  naval  vessels  in  those  waters.  He  said  to  the  admiral  that  he  was 
very  desirous  of  seeing  me,  but  that  his  time  was  so  limited  that  he  could 
not  await  my  arrival  from  Norfolk,  although  the  admiral  offered  to  send 
a  tug  immediately.  He  hoped,  however,  I  would  pay  him  a  visit  at  Cul- 
peper,  and,  if  I  determined  to  do  so,  I  should  not  delay,  as  he  would  move 
as  soon  as  his  forces  were  ready. 

On  the  Friday  preceding  his  crossing  the  Rapidan  and  his  advance  into 
the  "Wilderness,  I  paid  him  a  visit  and  spent  thirty-six  hours  with  him. 
I  left  on  Sunday  at  noon,  two  days  before  he  crossed  the  river.  In 
relation  to  his  movement  against  Richmond  he  wrote  me  a  long  and  inter- 
esting letter,  which  requires  no  explanation. 

The  following  November  General  Grant  came  from  City  Point  to  visit 
Admiral  Porter,  and  remarked  that  he  would  have  been  pleased  to  see  me, 
but  that  I  was  in  New  York.  The  admiral  told  him  that  I  had  arrived 
the  previous  evening,  in  command  of  the  Mohican,  and  sent  a  tug  for  me. 
After  the  general  had  spent  a  few  hours  on  board  of  the  flag-ship,  it  was 
arranged  that  I  should  accompany  him  to  City  Point  the  following  morn- 
ing. I  spent  two  days  with  him,  and,  at  his  suggestion,  was  sent  out  to 
look  at  the  lines  in  front  of  Petersburg,  with  General  Babcock  as  my 
guide.  Our  horses  were  taken  some  nine  miles  in  the  cars  with  us,  and 
I  had  the  famous  horse  "  Cincinnati."  On  our  return,  General  Grant 
asked  how  I  liked  my  horse.  I  replied  that  I  had  never  backed  his  equal. 
M  Nor  have  I,"  said  the  general. 


APPENDIX.  529 

A  few  days  after  my  return  to  the  Mohican  I  sailed  for  blockade  duty 
off  Fort  Fisher.  On  the  night  of  the  second  day  of  the  first  bombard- 
ment, Christmas,  I  wrote  General  Grant  my  ideas  in  relation  to  the  situa- 
tion, which  he  told  me  afterwards  in  a  measure  determined  him  to  make 
a  second  attack.     His  third  letter  relates  in  general  to  this  affair. 

I  did  not  meet  the  general  again  until  the  end  of  the  civil  war,  nor  did 
I  even  then  meet  him  frequently  until  the  winter  of  1865-66,  when  I  was 
in  Washington  in  command  of  the  double-turreted  monitor  Miantonomah. 
Then  we  discussed  the  necessity  of  surveys  to  ascertain  the  practicability  \ 
of  an  Isthmian  ship-canal,  and  we  paid  Mr.  Seward,  the   Secretary  of 
State,  a  visit.     Later  on,  the  general  informed  me  that  he  had  paid  other  j 
visits  to  Secretary  Seward,  and  that  he  would  do  so  no  more,  from  a  fear  J 
that  he  would  hate  him,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  hate  any  man. 

In  April,  1866,  I  went  to  York,  Pennsylvania,  to  reside ;  when  I  visited 
Washington,  which  I  did  from  time  to  time,  I  was  the  guest  of  General 
Grant.  He  had  hoped  to  go  abroad  after  the  civil  war  in  a  vessel  under 
my  command,  but  Mr.  Johnson's  unhappy  embroilment  with  Congress 
made  it  necessary  for  him  to  remain  at  home,  much  to  his  regret. 

In  the  fall  of  1867  I  went  to  the  Asiatic  station  in  command  of  the 
Piscataqua,  the  flag-ship  of  Admiral  Rowan.  Previous  to  leaving  I  was 
frequently  in  Washington  to  settle  up  some  unfinished  business.  At  such 
times  I  was  the  guest  of  the  general,  who  spoke  to  me  earnestly  and 
confidentially  of  the  very  grave  situation  and  the  probable  intentions  of 
Presiflent  Johnson,  all  of  which  is  detailed  in  my  memoirs. 

During  my  absence,  General  Grant  became  a  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, much  against  his  inclination,  and  after  his  election  I  was  ordered 
home  at  his  request,  but  did  not  arrive  until  two  months  later  than  he 
desired. 

During  the  eight  years  of  his  Presidency  I  saw  much  of  him.  My 
residence  was  thirteen  miles  in  the  country,  and,  having  a  standing  invi- 
tation to  dine  on  Sundays  at  the  White  House,  I  did  so  frequently,  usually 
going  in  early,  and  taking  a  walk  of  half  a  dozen  miles  with  the  general 
before  dinner.  On  leaving  the  house  on  one  of  these  occasions,  he  re- 
marked that  had  I  not  pulled  him  out  of  the  water  more  than  forty  years 
before  he  would  have  been  spared  a  great  deal  of  misery.  I  said  that  the 
American  people  had  great  reason  to  be  thankful  that  he  had  had  to  endure 
it.  He  remarked  that  he  would  not  be  willing  to  live  his  life  over  again, 
were  it  a  matter  of  volition ;  and,  in  reply  to  a  question  from  him,  I  said 
I  should  not  be  willing  to  do  so  either,  had  I  to  start  life  again  under  the 
conditions  that  had  fallen  to  my  lot,  as  I  should  fear  it  would  be  a  failure. 
On  the  expiration  of  his  Presidential  term,  at  his  request  I  accompanied 
him  on  a  ten  days'  visit  to  Ohio.  We  drove  some  forty-five  miles  from 
Cincinnati  to  Georgetown,  where  we  spent  two  days  with  several  of  our 
old  friends.  I  know  that  the  general's  charities  to  some  of  the  poor  whom 
we  had  known  as  children  were  very  acceptable  at  that  time,  and  that 

34 


530  APPENDIX. 

they  were  continued  afterwards.  Some  time  after  the  death  of  the  gen- 
eral, an  old  lady  in  straitened  circumstances  wrote  me  that  during  the 
lifetime  of  the  general  she  had  "  wanted  for  nothing."  He  was  silent 
and  generous  in  his  charities. 

Soon  after  he  came  East  he  went  abroad.  During  his  absence*  he  wrote 
me  frequently.  In  my  letters  to  him  I  suggested  that  a  traveller  had 
much  to  interest  and  occupy  his  time,  and  that  I  did  not  expect  him  to 
write  me  frequently,  if  he  wrote  at  all.  Nevertheless,  he  was  good  enough 
to  send  me  letters  from  many  points,  on  men  and  things,  giving  his  ideas 
in  a  briefer  and  more  candid  manner  than  is  usual  when  writings  are  in- 
tended for  the  public  eye.  I  feel  sure  that  the  reader  will  thank  me  for 
giving  him  the  opportunity  of  perusing  them. 

It  will  be  apparent  from  these  letters  that  I  was  intimate  with  General 
Grant,  and  that  he  honored  me  with  his  confidence  in  a  great  degree. 
And  I  feel  much  satisfaction  in  the  reflection  that  I  never  abused  this 
confidence.  I  have  never  met  a  kinder  friend  than  General  Grant  was  to 
those  whom  he  deemed  worthy,  nor  a  man  who  had  a  more  honest  and 
unselfish  purpose  in  life.  So  far  as  I  can  judge  from  history,  and  so  far 
as  I  know  of  men  through  association,  General  Grant  should  be  considered 
in  all  time  among  the  few  great  men  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The 
military  man  will  look  upon  him  as  a  man  of  genius  ;  the  statesman  of 
the  future  will  regard  with  surprise  the  neglect  of  the  many  wise  sug- 
gestions contained  in  his  messages;  the  historian  will  feel  assured  that 
whatever  errors  there  may  be  in  his  writings  are  not  of  his  volition, — 
that  what  he  wrote  was  conscientiously  written,  and  that  nothing  was 
omitted  knowingly,  or  with  an  intention  to  deceive.  He  never  asked 
either  military  or  political  advancement,  directly  or  indirectly,  as  he 
frequently  assured  me ;  and  where  in  the  world's  history  will  be  found 
another  man  of  whom  that  can  be  said? 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  Feb'y  16th,  1864. 
Dear  Ammen, — 

Your  letter  was  duly  received,  and  advice  fully  appreciated,  particularly 
as  it  is  the  same  I  would  give  any  friend, — i.e.,  to  avoid  all  political  en- 
tanglements. I  have  always  thought  the  most  slavish  life  any  man  could 
lead  was  that  of  a  politician.  Besides,  I  do  not  believe  any  man  can  be 
successful  as  a  soldier  whilst  he  has  an  anchor  ahead  for  other  advance- 
ment. I  know  of  no  circumstances  likely  to  arise  which  could  induce  me 
to  accept  of  any  political  office  whatever.  My  only  desire  will  be,  as  it 
always  has  been,  to  whip  out  the  rebellion  in  the  shortest  way  possible, 
and  to  retain  as  high  a  position  in  the  army  afterwards  as  the  administra- 
tion then  in  power  may  think  me  suited  for. 

I  was  truly  glad  to  hear  from  you.  I  was  once  on  leave  of  absence  at 
the  same  time  you  were,  and  went  from  Clermont  County  to  Cincinnati 
more  to  see  you  than  for  any  other  purpose.     When  I  got  there,  I  found 


APPENDIX.  531 

you  had  gone  to  Ripley  by  river.  I  believe  the  last  time  we  met  was 
in  Philadelphia,  in  '43.  We  have  both  grown  older  since,  though  time 
sets  very  lightly  with  me.  I  am  neither  gray  nor  bald,  nor  do  I  feel  any 
different  from  what  I  did  at  twenty-five. 

I  have  often  wished  that  you  had  been  selected  to  command  the  Missis- 
sippi flotilla.  I  have  no  fault  to  find,  however,  with  the  naval  officers 
who  have  co-operated  with  me.  I  think  Porter,  Phelps,  and  some  of  the 
younger  officers  as  clever  men  as  I  ever  fell  in  with.  I  cannot  complain 
of  them,  certainly,  for  I  believe  I  never  made  a  request  of  them  they  did 
not  comply  with,  no  matter  what  the  danger.  I  know  I  caused  Porter  to 
lose  one  gun-boat,  against  his  judgment,  and  he  never  found  fault. 

Remember  me  to  Mrs.  Van  Dyke's  family,  and  any  other  friends  of  mine 
in  Cincinnati.     I  will  be  very  glad  to  hear  from  you  again. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 


Head-Quarters  Armies  op  the  United  States, 
City  Point,  Va.,  Aug.  18th,  1864. 
Dear  Ammen, — 

Your  letter  of  the  2d  inst.  was  duly  received.  I  regret  not  having  made 
better  progress  in  whipping  out  the  rebellion,  but  feel  conscious  of  having 
done  the  best  I  know  how.  This  army  has  fought  desperately  since  leaving 
Culpeper,  and  has  gained  this  substantial  advantage :  the  enemy  is  afraid 
to  fight  it  on  an  open  field,  whilst  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  feels  confident 
of  success  whenever  the  terms  are  anything  like  equal.  Several  times  we 
have  had  decisive  victories  within  our  grasp,  but  let  them,  through  accident 
or  fault,  slip  through  our  hands.  Our  movement  from  Cold  Harbor  to  the 
south  side  of  the  James  was  made  with  such  celerity  that  before  the  enemy 
was  aware  of  it,  and  before  he  had  got  a  single  regiment  across  the  river, 
our  forces  had  carried  the  fortifications  east  of  Petersburg.  There  was 
nothing — not  even  a  military  force — to  prevent  our  walking  in  and  taking 
possession.  The  officer  charged  with  the  work,  for  some  unaccountable 
reason,  stopped  at  the  works  he  had  captured,  and  gave  the  enemy  time  to 
get  in  a  garrison  and  to  intrench  it.  On  the  30th  of  July,  again,  by  a 
feint  north  of  the  James,  we  drew  most  of  the  enemy  to  that  side  of  the 
river,  and  whilst  he  was  there  (with  my  troops  quietly  withdrawn  during 
the  night)  a  mine,  judiciously  prepared,  was  exploded,  burying  a  battery 
and  some  three  hundred  of  the  enemy,  and  making  a  breach  in  his  works 
into  which  our  men  marched  without  opposition.  The  enemy  was  com- 
pletely surprised,  and  commenced  running  in  all  directions.  There  was 
nothing  to  prevent  our  men  from  marching  directly  to  the  high  ground  in 
front  of  them,  to  which  they  had  been  directed  to  go,  and  there  all  the 
enemy's  fortifications  would  have  been  taken  in  reverse,  and  no  stand 
would  have  been  made.  It  is  clear  that  without  a  loss  of  five  hundred 
men  we  could  have  had  Petersburg,  with  all  its  artillery  and  many  of  the 


532  APPENDIX. 

garrison.  But  our  troops  stopped  in  the  crater  made  by  the  explosion. 
The  enemy  was  given  time  to  rally  and  reoccupy  his  line.  Then  we  found, 
true  enough,  that  we  had  the  wolf  by  the  ears.  He  was  hard  to  hold,  and 
more  dangerous  to  let  go.  This  was  so  outrageous  that  I  have  obtained  a 
court  of  inquiry  to  sift  the  matter.  We  will  peg  away,  however,  and  end 
this  matter,  if  our  people  at  home  will  but  be  true  to  themselves.  If  they 
would  but  reflect,  everything  looks  favorable.  The  South  now  have  every 
man  in  the  ranks,  including  old  men  and  little  boys.  They  have  no  longer 
means  to  replace  a  man  lost ;  whilst  by  enforcing  the  draft  we  have  abun- 
dance of  men.  Give  us  half  the  men  called  for  by  the  draft,  and  there 
will  hardly  be  any  resistance  made.  The  rebellion  is  now  fed  by  the 
bickering  and  differences  North.  The  hope  of  a  counter-revolution  over 
the  draft  or  the  Presidential  election  keeps  them  together.  Then,  too,  they 
hope  for  a  Peace  candidate  who  would  let  them  go.  A  "peace  at  any 
price"  is  fearful  to  contemplate.  It  would  be  but  the  beginning  of  war. 
The  demands  of  the  South  would  know  no  limits.  They  would  demand 
indemnity  for  expenses  incurred  in  carrying  on  the  war.  They  would 
demand  the  return  of  all  their  slaves  set  free  in  consequence  of  the  war. 
They  would  demand  a  treaty  looking  to  the  rendition  of  all  fugitive  slaves 
escaping  into  the  Northern  States,  and  they  would  keep  on  demanding 
until  it  would  be  better  to  be  dead  than  to  submit  longer. 

My  staff  officers  generally  have  been  sick.  I  am  the  only  one  at  head- 
quarters that  has  escaped  entirely.  General  Rawlins,  Col.  Badeau  and 
Rowley  are  now  absent,  sick,  and  three  others  of  the  staff  have  been  absent, 
but  have  returned  improved.  The  health  of  the  troops,  however,  is  gen- 
erally good. 

I  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  you  at  all  times. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant, 
Lt.-G'l. 

About  the  time  I  received  this  letter,  one  of  similar  import  was  pub- 
lished, which  I  think  had  been  written  by  General  Grant  to  Senator  Wash- 
burn. 

Head-Quarters  Armies  of  *he  United  States, 
City  Point,  Feb.  4th,  1865. 
Dear  Ammen, — 

Your  letter  of  the  16th  of  January  is  just  received.  You  have  no  doubt 
seen  by  the  papers  that  the  very  thing  you  so  strongly  hoped  had  already 
taken  place.  I  mean,  Butler  had  been  removed  at  my  request.  The 
failure  at  Fort  Fisher  was  not  without  important  and  valuable  results. 

I  have  long  thought  from  the  representations  of  army  officers  that  the 
change  you  suggest  in  naval  commander  in  South  Atlantic  should  also  be 
made.  I  do  not,  however,  feel  myself  authorized  to  suggest  changes  of 
naval  commanders,  so  long  as  their  duties  are  confined  to  blockading. 


APPENDIX.  533 

When  it  comes  to  co-operation  with  the  army  in  an  attack,  I  do  not 
hesitate. 

Everything  now  seems  to  be  progressing  favorably.  I  am  sending  an 
additional  force  of  about  twenty-eight  thousand  effective  men  to  Cape  Fear 
River  and  New-Berne.  These  troops,  or  part  of  them,  sailed  this  morn- 
ing, and  so  far  their  destination  does  not  seem  to  have  been  suspected  even 
by  our  own  people.  Before  the  enemy  are  aware  of  it,  I  hope  to  have 
Wilmington,  and,  before  they  can  prevent  it,  Goldsborough.  This  will 
make  a  formidable  force  to  co-operate  with  Sherman.  I  shall  also  have 
the  railroad  in  working  order  from  Wilmington  to  New-Berne  out  as  far 
as  we  occupy,  and  supplies  thrown  out  for  Sherman's  use. 

I  have  been  a  little  negligent  about  answering  your  very  welcome  let- 
ters, but  I  am  none  the  less  glad  to  receive  them.  I  will  be  very  much 
pleased  to  hear  from  you  whenever  you  can  find  time  to  write,  and  will 
answer  when  there  is  anything  to  say. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

You  will  see  that  Terry  has  been  made  a  full  major-general  of  volunteers 
and  a  brigadier-general  in  the  regular  army.  I  have  also  recommended 
him  for  the  command  now  held  by  Foster. 

In  my  letter  to  which  the  above  is  a  reply,  I  stated  that  the  navy  had 
shown  itself  fully  able  to  suppress  the  fire  of  Fort  Fisher.  Whether  the 
fort  could  or  could  not  be  carried  by  assault  under  this  condition,  I  would 
express  no  opinion.  In  case  it  could  not  be  carried,  however,  a  permanent 
lodgment  of  troops  could  be  made  on  the  sand-beach  north  of  it,  and 
intrenched  north  and  south.  An  inferior  force  could  be  maintained,  with 
intrenchments  flanked  by  gun-boats,  against  any  force  the  enemy  could 
bring  against  it.  Steam  launches  with  howitzers  could  be  got  into  the 
river,  and  with  them  on  the  watch,  and  batteries  established  sweeping  the 
river,  and  calcium  lights  thrown  over  the  water,  no  steamer  that  had  run 
the  blockade  would  be  able  to  reach  Wilmington.  Fort  Fisher  would  then 
be  of  no  more  use  to  the  enemy  than  if  it  were  located  twenty  miles  out 
at  sea,  and  the  keeping  up  of  supplies  from  Caswell,  on  the  opposite  shore, 
would  be  so  difficult  that  Fisher  would  soon  be  abandoned  by  the  enemy. 

Head-Quarters  Armt  of  the  United  States, 
November  6th,  1866. 
Dear  Ammen, — 

Your  letter  was  duly  received.  Of  course  I  read  your  article  in  the 
Army  and  Navy  Journal,  and  was  delighted  with  it.  Fearing  that  Grand- 
father Welles  might  not  get  up  to  the  Journal  of  the  28th  ult.  during  his 
term  of  office  if  left  to  his  ordinary  course  of  reading,  I  had  the  article 
cut  out  and  sent  to  him.  Knowing  our  intimacy,  he  will  judge  you  to  be 
the  author,  but  it  will  take  him  until  the  4th  of  March,  '69,  to  draw  his 


534  APPENDIX. 

inference.     As  he  will  likely  cease  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Navy  about  that 
time,  you  are  secure. 

Mr.  Dent  was  delighted  with  your  invitation  to  him,  and  he  may  be 
able  some  time  to  make  you  a  visit  for  a  few  days.  We  will  not  go  away 
without  providing  him  a  home,  however,  with  one  of  his  children. 

I  shall  not  be  able  to  leave  Washington  this  winter.  It  is  a  great  dis- 
appointment to  me,  but  affairs  have  taken  such  a  turn  as  to  make  this 
course  necessary. 

I  cannot  explain  in  a  letter  the  reasons  for  this  course.  My  going  to 
Europe  next  spring — in  fact,  going  at  all  during  this  administration — will 
depend  on  the  course  affairs  take  this  winter. 

My  family,  including  Mrs.  Dent,  all  send  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen.  When- 
ever you  come  to  this  city  we  will  expect  you  and  your  wife  to  stop  with 
us. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

The  following  is  the  article  spoken  of  by  the  general  in  the  opening 
sentences  of  the  above  letter.  It  was  written,  to  pass  the  time,  during  a 
steamboat  journey  down  the  Ohio  from  Wheeling  to  Cincinnati. 

THE  NAVAL  COCKED  HAT  AND  SWALLOW  TAIL. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Journal. 

Sir, — Ominous  sounds  come  from  Washington  that  a  strong  deputation 
of  influential  tailors  and  hatters,  whose  works  are  sometimes  regarded  as 
the  "  chief  end  of  man"  by  those  who  are  not  conversant  with  the  "  New 
England  Catechism,"  aided  perhaps  by  a  few  navy  men,  and  particularly 
by  that  class  who  have  dim  recollections  of  foreign  shores  and  keep  up 
their  nautical  knowledge  by  an  occasional  visit  to  Hampton  Roads  or  to 
Newport,  have  prepared  and  proposed  having  adopted  as  the  naval  uni- 
form a  cocked  hat  and  swallow-tail  coat,  the  likes  of  which  have  not  been 
seen  before  for  a  long  time. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  far  the  greater  number  of  the  quiet  and  passive 
souls  who  go  to  sea  in  the  naval  uniform  that  the  pomp  and  glory  of  a 
cocked  hat  had  definitely  passed  away ;  that  the  uncherished  memory  of 
it  existed  as  an  infliction  of  the  past ;  that  the  "  beauty  of  fitness"  did 
not  pertain  to  it  even  in  the  mind  of  the  most  sanguinary,  and  that  here- 
after it  would  appear  only  in  old  pictures  or  show-cases,  as  a  pleasing 
evidence  of  the  ameliorated  condition  of  naval  men. 

But  no  sooner  have  the  horrors  of  war  fairly  passed  away  than  the 
horrors  of  dress  seem  to  rise  up  to  affright  and  to  fill  the  mind  with  terrors 
as  of  the  Inquisition.  Can  there  be  a  class  of  men  in  the  naval  service 
who  think  that  the  high-road  to  all  perfection  is  to  endure?  If  so,  let 
them  inflict  upon  themselves  the  coarse  hair  undershirts  worn  by  certain 


APPENDIX.  535 

orders  of  monks,  instead  of  ostentatiously  parading  to  the  world  what 
they  are  willing  to  endure,  at  least  in  dress. 

If  there  are  other  naval  men  who  give  a  tacit  or  an  active  support  to 
the  noble  army  of  martyrs  referred  to,  from  a  belief  in  the  proverb  u  il 
faut  souffrir  pour  etre  beau"  they  may  hope  in  the  end  to  attain  to  the 
sublime  abnegation  of  the  first  class,  and  in  the  mean  time  to  have  the 
gratitude  and  the  admiration  of  the  tailors  as  well  as  the  fabricators  of 
the  chapeaux  bras.  There  is  another,  a  native  and  a  homely  proverb,  per- 
haps forgotten  since  childhood ;  if  the  reminder  should  bring  them  back 
to  their  sweet  infantile  ways,  then  I  shall  feel  recompensed  in  making 
the  quotation,  "  pretty  is  as  pretty  does."  Would  it  be  possible  to  do 
anything  in  a  cocked  hat  except  to  suffer  ? 

If  there  are  others  who  thoughtlessly  would  place  upon  officers  a  burden 
more  than  they  can  bear,  let  them  pause  and  reconsider  this  gratuitous 
act  of  cruelty  toward  men  who,  as  a  whole,  deserve  well  of  their  country. 
Let  them  picture  to  themselves  a  lengthy  ceremonial  within  the  tropics, 
and  at  the  head  of  a  devoted  and  woebegone-looking  procession  of  officers 
of  different  ages  and  ranks,  and  in  all  the  varied  stages  of  exhaustion,  an 
old  fellow,  red  as  a  lobster,  wet  with  perspiration,  as  though  he  had  just 
emerged  from  the  depths,  his  eyes  almost  closed  to  shield  them  from  the 
sun,  and  evidently  suffering  enough  to  excite  compassion  in  the  breasts  of 
the  humane.  Yet  this  man  has  done  nothing, — that  is,  nothing  to  make 
it  necessary  to  dress  him  without  the  least  regard  to  health  or  to  comfort 
and — may  it  not  be  added  ? — to  elegance  or  taste.  To  be  easy  or  graceful, 
a  dress  has  to  be  habitual,  in  cut  at  least,  as  proof  of  which  look  at  the 
awkward  appearance  made  by  laboring  men  when  dressed  in  their  "  Sun- 
day clothes  j"  nor  does  the  officer  appear  in  any  but  a  ludicrous  light  when 
dressed  in  what  he  does  not  wear  habitually.  Of  all  the  specimens  that 
the  reader  may  have  seen  in  full  dress,  has  he  seen  one,  or  one  in  a  hun- 
dred, who  has  seemed  easy  or  improved  by  his  trappings?  0  injudicious 
friend,  if  you  are  one,  pause  and  think  what  you  propose  inflicting  if  you 
have  had  aught  to  do  in  this  matter ! 

Mr.  Bumble  the  beadle  wore  a  cocked  hat.  What  sort  of  a  fellow  was 
he  ?  Who  knows  what  Mr.  Bumble  might  have  been  had  he  not  been  edu- 
cated in  a  cocked  hat,  or  if  in  the  pride  of  his  heart  he  had  not  received 
it  as  the  crowning  glory  of  his  exalted  rank?  How  many  naval  Bumbles 
have  become  so  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  cocked  hat,  and  the 
weighty  paraphernalia  which  fosters  the  utterly  impracticable  and  the 
useless  ! 

If  cocked  hats  have  to  be,  then  let  them  be  placed  on  a  pole  and  borne 
solemnly  along  by  a  messenger-boy,  somewhat  in  the  manner  that  the 
three-tailed  bashaws  parade  their  insignia  of  rank.  The  three  tails  would 
be  quite  as  convenient,  ornamental,  and  useful  a  head-dress  as  any  cocked 
hat  that  has  heretofore  formed  a  part  of  our  naval  uniform  ;  yet  we  have 
no  account  that  the  bashaws  have  ever  worn  them  thus. 


536  APPENDIX. 

The  swallow-tail  coat,  too,  is  far  from  being  graceful  or  useful,  yet  it 
is  less  burdensome  in  every  sense  than  the  cocked  hat.  If  left  to  the 
officers  themselves,  certainly  not  one  in  five  would  wish  it.  If  these  pro- 
posed changes  are  the  result  of  the  deliberations  of  a  Board,  let  us  suggest 
that  the  members  composing  it  should  visit  the  various  naval  stations 
dressed  as  proposed,  for  the  purpose  of  eliciting  the  expression  of  a  gen- 
eral opinion  as  to  its  fitness,  and  above  all  as  to  the  advantage  of  a 
change.  They  could  also  have  their  photographs  taken,  back,  front,  and 
side  view,  and  distributed  to  the  various  squadrons,  such  of  them  wear- 
ing a  mask  as  wished  to  assert  strongly  that  their  personal  vanity  was 
not  at  all  concerned. 

By  means  of  a  cocked  hat,  big  epaulets,  a  swallow-tail  coat,  and  a  big 
round  belly,  due  to  a  want  of  sufficient  exercise,  many  an  officer  that  would 
have  "  passed  muster"  in  ordinary  clothes  has  been  transformed  into  a 
ludicrous  resemblance  of  a  robin,  while  his  ungracefulness  of  movement 
showed  plainly  that  if  he  was  "  a  bird"  (in  appearance)  he  could  not  hope 
to  fly  unless  on  the  balloon  principle. 

0  mighty  shades  of  departed  heroes,  spare  us  the  cocked  hat,  and,  if 
possible,  the  swallow-tail  coat!  0  humane  men,  members  of  societies  for 
the  suppression  of  cruelty  to  dumb  brutes,  cast  one  look  of  pity  on  the 
naval  officer  in  full  dress  when  he  appears  as  it  is  said  he  will  shortly 
do.  You  will  not  fail  to  extend  your  sympathy,  and  will  wish  him  well, 
although  you  may  not  be  able  to  aid  him  in  this  dire  extremity. 

Head-Quarters  Army  op  the  United  States, 
Washington,  D.C.,  Nov.  23d,  1868. 
Dear  Ammen, — 

Your  welcome  and  very  interesting  letters,  up  to  September,  have  been 
received.  Since  that  date  the  Presidential  election  has  taken  place,  and 
the  result  before  this  reached  you.  The  Democracy  made  the  most  des- 
perate and  unscrupulous  effort  of  their  lives  to  change  the  result,  but 
without  effect.  Now  there  seems  to  be  a  general  acquiescence,  North  and 
South,  in  the  result.  Appearances  now  are  about  what  they  were  in  '65. 
I  would  write  you  a  long  letter  on  public  and  home  affairs,  but  that  I  hope 
you  will  be  on  your  way  home  soon  after  the  receipt  of  this,  if  you  are  not 
before.  I  am  not  on  speaking-terms  with  your  venerable  Chief,  therefore 
cannot  ask  him  to  relieve  you  from  your  present  duties.  I  did,  however, 
some  ten  days  since,  write  to  Admiral  Porter,  asking  him  to  effect  your 
release.  Immediately  on  writing  that  letter  I  went  North,  and  have  but 
just  returned ;  so  I  do  not  know  what  success  he  met  with.  I  know, 
however,  the  admiral  came  to  Washington  a  day  or  two  after  the  receipt  of 
my  letter.  If  you  are  not  relieved  by  orders  from  the  Navy  Department, 
I  hope  your  immediate  commander  will  take  the  liberty  to  relieve  you 
himself  in  time  to  reach  here  by  the  4th  of  March,  1869,  and  trust  to 
orders  then  justifying  his  action.  I  am  anxious  that  you  should  be  here 
at  that  time. 


APPENDIX.  537 

Mrs.  Grant  received  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Amrnen  yesterday,  from  which 
we  learn  your  family  are  now  well.  We  hope  to  have  a  visit  from  her 
soon,  when  Mrs.  Grant  and  myself  will  do  what  we  can  to  make  her  time 
pass  agreeably. 

My  family  are  all  well.  The  children  were  much  pleased  with  the 
presents  received  from  you. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

This  letter  was  written  when  I  was  in  command  of  the  Piscataqua,  and 
was  not  received  until  our  arrival  at  Hong-Kong  on  the  18th  of  February, 
1869.  Admiral  Rowan  then  ordered  me  to  return  to  the  United  States, 
and  two  days  later  I  left  for  San  Francisco  in  the  American  steamer  Great 
Republic.  My  duties  from  that  time  forward  having  been  in  Washington, 
I  have  no  correspondence  of  interest  to  the  public  until  General  Grant 
wrote  me  from  London  in  relation  to  home  affairs  and  a  short  visit  to 
Switzerland,  as  follows : 

Bristol  Hotel,  Burlington  Gardens,  London,  W., 
August  28th,  1877. 
My  dear  Commodore, — 

I  arrived  here  from  the  Continent  yesterday,  after  a  most  pleasant  visit 
of  about  seven  weeks  there,  most  of  the  time  in  Switzerland.  There  is 
no  more  beautiful  scenery  or  climate  for  summer  travel  than  Switzerland 
presents.  The  people  are  industrious  and  honest,  simple  and  frugal  in 
their  habits,  and  would  be  very  poor  with  all  this,  if  it  were  not  from  the 
travel  through  their  country.  I  wish  their  surplus  population  would 
emigrate  to  the  United  States.  On  our  arrival  here  I  found  but  few  letters, 
but  among  them  were  yours  and  one  from  our  mutual  friend  Borie. 
During  my  absence  I  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  you  as  often  as  you  feel 
like  writing.  It  is  always  interesting  to  me  to  get  home  news,  and  par- 
ticularly from  a  friend.  For  the  last  eight  weeks  I  have  seen  but  few 
American  papers,  and  am  consequently  behind  in  home  news.  The  for- 
eign papers,  however,  have  been  full  of  the  great  railroad  strike,  and  no 
doubt  exaggerated  it,  bad  as  it  was.  The  United  States  should  always  be 
prepared  to  put  down  such  demonstrations  promptly  and  with  severe  con- 
sequences to  the  guilty.  I  hope  good  may  come  out  of  this,  in  pointing 
out  the  necessity  for  having  the  proper  remedy  at  hand  in  case  of  need. 
"  An  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure."  One  thing  has 
struck  me  as  a  little  queer.  During  my  two  terms  of  office  the  whole 
Democratic  press,  and  the  morbidly  honest  and  "reformatory"  portion  of 
the  Republican  press,  thought  it  horrible  to  keep  U.  S.  troops  stationed  in 
the  Southern  States,  and  when  they  were  called  upon  to  protect  the  lives 
of  negroes — as  much  citizens  under  the  Constitution  as  if  their  skins  were 
w^hite — the  country  was  scarcely  large  enough  to  hold  the  sound  of  indig- 
nation belched  forth  by  them  for  some  years.     Now,  however,  there  is  no 


538  APPENDIX. 

hesitation  about  exhausting  the  whole  power  of  the  government  to  suppress 
a  strike  on  the  slightest  intimation  that  danger  threatens.  All  parties 
agree  that  this  is  right,  and  so  do  I.  If  a  negro  insurrection  should  arise 
in  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  or  Louisiana,  or  if  the  negroes  in  either 
of  these  States — where  they  are  in  a  large  majority — should  intimidate 
the  whites  from  going  to  the  polls,  or  from  exercising  any  of  the  rights 
of  American  citizens,  there  would  be  no  division  of  sentiment  as  to  the 
duty  of  the  President.     It  does  seem  the  rule  should  work  both  ways. 

How  long  my  stay  abroad  may  be  prolonged  is  somewhat  problematical. 
I  shall  remain  on  this  side  of  the  water,  however,  all  of  next  winter,  and 
will  avail  myself  of  the  Secretary's  kind  offer  of  a  naval  vessel  to  visit 
the  seaport  towns  on  the  Mediterranean.  I  received  a  letter  from  Admiral 
Worden  stating  that  he  had  received  his  orders  in  this  respect, — giving 
me  a  copy  of  his  instructions,  which  I  had  seen  before, — to  which  I 
replied  stating  my  plans.  I  wrote  to  the  Secretary  thanking  him  for  the 
courtesy  of  his  tender  of  a  vessel,  which  letter  I  hope  he  received. 

During  the  strike  you  must  have  been  compelled  to  stay  in  the  city, 
leaving  the  little  Ammens  to  take  care  of  themselves,  or  have  resorted  to 
private  conveyance.  In  either  case  you  have  been  taught  the  value  of 
railroads  to  the  country. 

Mrs.  Grant  sends  her  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children,  and  asks 
me  to  say  that  she  will  miss  you  very  much  during  our  travels  on  board 
naval  vessels. 

Please  present  my  kind  regards  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children,  and 
believe  me, 

Your  sincere  friend, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Commodore  D.  Ammen,  U.  S.  Navy. 

Hotel  de  France,  Nice,  December  10th,  1877. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

On  Thursday,  day  after  to-morrow,  we  go  aboard  the  Vandalia  to  make 
our  examination  of  the  Mediterranean.  How  much  I  wish  you  were  in 
command  to  unfurl  for  the  first  time  your  admiral's  flag  !  We  breakfasted 
the  other  day  with  Admiral  Le  Roy,  and  saw  all  the  officers  then  in  port 
here.  They  seem  to  be  a  nice  set  of  youngsters.  They  were  not  all  at 
the  breakfast,  of  course,  but  they  came  aboard  the  flag-ship,  and  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  them.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  you  to  know  how  they 
all  spoke  of  you.  There  was  quite  an  expression  of  opinion  among  them 
placing  you  in  the  highest  place  in  the  profession.  Of  course  I  told  them 
I  owed  you  an  old  grudge  as  being  responsible  for  the  many  trials  and 
difficulties  I  had  passed  through  in  the  last  half-century,  for  nearly  that 
length  of  time  ago  you  had  rescued  me  from  a  watery  grave. 

I  am  of  a  forgiving  nature,  however,  and  forgive  you  ;  but  is  the  feeling 
universal  ?     If  the  Democrats  get  into  full  power,  may  they  not  hold  you 


APPENDIX.  539 

responsible  ?     Bat,  as  you  are  about  retiring,  I  hope  no  harm  will  come  to 
you  for  any  act  of  kindness  done  to  me. 

Our  trip  thus  far  has  been  most  agreeable.  The  weather  in  Paris  was 
most  atrocious,  but  I  got  to  see  much  of  the  people.  My  opinion  of  their 
capacity  for  self-government  has  materially  changed  since  seeing  for  my- 
self. Before  coming  here  I  did  not  believe  the  French  people  capable  of 
self-government.  Now  I  believe  them  perfectly  capable,  and  that  they 
will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less.  They  are  patient,  "  and  of  long  suffer- 
ing," but  there  will  not  be  entire  peace  and  quiet  until  a  form  of  govern- 
ment is  established  in  which  all  the  people  have  a  full  voice.  It  will  be 
more  republican  than  anything  they  have  yet  had  under  the  name  of  a 
republic. 

Give  all  our  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  all  Of  the  children.  Write  to  me 
often,  and  don't  be  disappointed  if  I  do  not  answer  each  of  your  letters  as 
received. 

Yours  faithfully, 

U.  S.  Grant. 


Rome,  Italy,  March  25th,  1878. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

I  have  received  three  interesting  letters  from  you  since  my  last  to  you. 
You  must  excuse  this,  and  continue  to  write,  because  I  am  always  glad  to 
receive  your  letters,  as  are  all  the  family, —  and  they  all  read  them  ;  and 
then  I  am  writing  to  so  many  persons  that  I  cannot  be  prompt  in  my 
replies. 

The  winter's  trip  has  been  the  most  pleasant  of  my  life.  It  has  been 
entirely  out  of  the  usual  course  of  travellers  abroad,  and  has  opened  a  new 
field.  My  whole  family — or  at  least  those  with  me — are  such  sailors  that 
a  home  on  shipboard  was  as  comfortable  as  if  on  land,  even  when  it  was 
rough  weather.  The  officers,  without  exception,  were  agreeable  and  did 
all  they  could  to  make  us  feel  at  home.  Captain  Ilobeson,  the  commander, 
was  most  attentive  both  to  his  guests  and  to  his  duties.  I  judge  a  more 
safe  commander  to  a  ship  could  not  be  found.  The  second  officer,  Lieu- 
tenant Caldwell,  is  a  very  superior  man  in  education  and  acquirements, 
and  especially  so  in  all  scientific  subjects,  and  professional  ones  too.  He 
is  very  much  such  a  man  as  Comstock,  who  served  on  my  staff,  and  whom 
you  remember.  If  you  do  not  remember  him,  you  do  his  horse  at  least. 
The  other  officers  are  nice  fellows,  and  some  of  them  I  think  would  make 
their  mark  if  occasion  presents  itself.  The  third  officer,  Lieutenant  Strong, 
is  from  the  volunteers,  and  commands  the  respect  of  all  others,  from  the 
captain  down.  It  would  be  hard  to  convince  any  of  them  that  a  more 
thorough  navigator  is  to  be  found  in  or  out  of  the  service. 

Mr.  Young,  of  the  New  York  Herald,  accompanied  us  during  our  naval 
experience,  and  to  this  place,  and  wrote  very  good  and  very  descriptive 
letters.     You  have  no  doubt  read  them,  so  that  I  will  leave  out  all  account 


540  APPENDIX. 

of  places.  But  my  impression  of  peoples  are  that  in  the  East  they  have 
a  form  of  government  and  a  civilization  that  will  always  repress  progress 
and  development.  Syria  and  Asia  Minor  are  as  rich  of  soil  as  the  great 
Northwest  in  our  own  country,  and  are  blessed  with  a  climate  far  more 
suitable  to  production.  The  people  would  be  industrious  if  they  had  en- 
couragement, but  they  are  treated  as  slaves,  and  all  they  produce  is  taken 
from  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  governing  classes  and  to  maintain  them 
in  a  luxurious  and  licentious  life.  Women  are  degraded  even  beneath  a 
slave.  They  have  no  more  rights  than  the  brute.  In  fact,  the  donkey  is 
their  superior  in  privileges. 

I  was  in  Constantinople  at  a  very  interesting  time  historically.  The 
Russian  army  was  but  a  few  miles  outside,  and  there  was  no  barrier  to 
their  entrance.  But  the  stolidity  of  the  people  is  such  that  in  the  five 
days  I  spent  in  Constantinople  I  should  never  have  discovered  from  the 
manner  of  the  people,  outside  of  the  Sultan  and  a  few  of  the  high  officials, 
that  anything  unusual  had  happened. 

We  spent  five  days  in  Athens  on  our  way  here.  It  is  a  beautiful  city 
now.  It  is  well  built,  well  paved,  and  very  clean.  Considering  that  there 
was  not  a  house  where  the  present  city  stands,  forty-five  years  ago,  and 
that  the  opposition  of  the  Turks  has  kept  them  from  communication  with 
the  balance  of  Europe  except  by  sea,  they  have  certainly  made  wonderful 
progress.  I  hope  they  may  have  their  territory  increased  as  one  of  the 
effects  of  the  present  war,  so  as  to  give  them  more  Greek  population,  more 
space,  and  a  full  chance  to  develop.  It  seems  to  me  England,  and  the 
balance  of  Europe,  except  Russia,  is  interested  in  seeing  such  a  consum- 
mation. But  I  am  much  more  interested  in  home  affairs.  I  have  read 
the  home  papers  much  more  attentively  this  winter  than  during  the 
earlier  part  of  my  travels.  Since  the  meeting  of  Congress  I  have  felt 
almost  discouraged  at  times.  The  legislation  and  the  proposed  legislation 
almost  convinces  me  that,  if  the  North  does  not  rally,  we  who  were  so 
unfortunate  as  to  serve  on  the  Union  side,  from  a  false  sense  of  right, 
might  yet  be  required  to  get  one  of  Andy  Johnson's  pardons  to  relieve  us 
from  responsibility  as  murderers,  robbers,  and  illegal  and  unjustifiable 
invaders  of  the  sacred  soil  of  the  South.  I  believe  there  is  a  settled 
determination  to  destroy  the  army  and  navy,  and  to  reorganize  it  so  as  to 
bring  back,  with  their  lost  rank,  those  who  saw  better  than  we  did  the 
right,  and  quit  the  service  to  follow  it.  Poor  fellows !  what  a  pity  they 
were  not  successful !  They  would  have  such  an  opportunity  now  of 
showing  their  chivalry — by  putting  us  all  in  State's  prison. 

The  passage  of  the  silver  bill  is  very  discouraging.  It  is  dishonest  in 
the  extreme,  although  practically  it  may  not  work  the  harm  contemplated 
by  its  main  supporters.  But  it  shows  a  willingness  on  the  part  of  a 
majority  of  our  present  legislators  to  repudiate  a  portion  of  public  and 
private  indebtedness.  The  crime  would  be  only  greater  in  magnitude  if 
they  should  repudiate  the  whole.     The  man  who  would  steal  your  lamb 


APPENDIX.  541 

would  not  be  a  safe  custodian  of  the  old  sheep.  But  let  us  hope  that 
wiser  counsels  will  prevail.  Mr.  Hayes,  it  seems  to  me,  exercises  but 
little  influence  with  the  legislation.  This  I  suppose  is  partly  due  to  the 
very  slight  majority  he  had  in  the  Electoral  College,  and  more  to  the 
Utopian  ideas  he  got,  from  reformers,  of  running  a  government  without  a 
party.  The  Democrats  have  deceived  him.  I  hope  he  will  return  to  those 
who  elected  him.  I  believe  he  is  a  perfectly  sincere  man,  purely  patriotic, 
and  a  good  Republican.  But  he  has  been  wofully  mistaken, — or  I  am, 
from  a  distant  point  of  view.  Give  Mrs.  Grant's  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen 
and  the  children,  and  mine  too  if  you  will,  and  write  to  me  often.  My 
address  is  Drexel,  Harjes  &  Co.,  Paris. 

Yours  very  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 
Admiral  D.  Ammen,  U.  S.  Navy. 

The  quiet  humor  of  the  general  is  seen  in  his  allusion  to  Comstock's 
horse,  which  I  rode  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  Blair  at  Silver  Spring,  and  my  ex- 
perience with  which  was  a  subject  of  far  more  merriment  to  others  than 
it  was  to  me  during  the  actual  time  of  the  riding. 

Paris,  France,  May  25th,  1878. 
Mr  dear  Admiral, — 

Since  my  last  letter  to  you  I  have  received  two  or  three  from  you,  the 
last  one  containing  a  copy  of  your  reply  to  the  two  French  gentlemen  in 
regard  to  Inter-Oceanic  Canal  matters.  I  have  been  pestered,  or  rather 
refused  to  be  pestered,  by  adventurers  who  desire  to  get  me  interested 
with  them  in  an  enterprise  to  build  such  a  canal.  Before  I  left  "Washing- 
ton I  called  on  Mr.  Evarts  specially  to  interest  him  in  the  matter  of  a 
canal  by  the  Nicaragua  route.  I  was  in  hopes  he  would  take  the  matter 
up.  I  told  him  all  about  the  surveys  that  had  been  made,  the  reports 
upon  the  surveys,  how  he  could  get  access  to  them,  etc.,  and  that  he  could 
get  fuller  information  at  any  time  by  sending  for  you.  I  advise  that  you 
call  on  the  Secretary  and  bring  the  subject  up.  Edmunds  is  the  only 
Senator  that  I  know  of  who  takes  an  interest  in  the  subject.  But  he 
wouToTThTerest  others  if  the  subject  could  be  brought  up  in  a-  tangible 
shape.  ^/ 

We  have  now  been  here  for  three  weeks,  will  remain  about  three  weeks 
more,  and  then  go  north  through  Holland,  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden, 
back  east  to  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  Vienna,  then  visit  Berlin  and  a 
few  other  Prussian  places,  and  then  find  winter  quarters  either  here,  at 
Nice,  or  in  Southern  Italy.  In  June  of  next  year  I  shall  be  in  my  Long 
Branch  house,  if  spared  to  that  time,  when  we  will  hope  to  have  a  visit 
from  you  and  Mrs.  Ammen. 

I  have  visited  the  Exposition  several  times.  It  is  quite  a  success,  but, 
I  think,  no  improvement  on  our  Centennial  show.     The  buildings  and 


/ 


542  APPENDIX. 

grounds  are  far  inferior  to  ours.  Jesse  sails  for  home  on  the  4th  of  June. 
Mrs.  Grant  joins  me  in  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children. 

Very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 
Admiral  D.  Ammen. 

St.  Petersburg,  Russia,  Aug.  13th,  1878. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

After  spending  two  days  at  this  place  I  went  to  Moscow,  where  I  stayed 
five  days,  and  returned  this  noon.  On  arrival  found  a  large  mail,  in  which 
was  one  from  you,  enclosing  a  paragraph  about  Murphy's  bankruptcy  and 
my  losses  in  real  estate.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  there  is  not  one  word 
of  truth  in  the  statement.  I  never  owned  or  purchased  a  piece  of  real 
estate  in  New  York  City  in  my  life.  I  never  owned  any  property  in  New 
Jersey — except  the  two  houses  at  Long  Branch  which  I  now  own — in  my 
life.  I  never  held  a  piece  of  property  in  my  life,  that  I  remember  of,  on 
which  I  owed  anything.  What  I  have — not  much — is  paid  for.  I  have 
sold  nothing  to  pay  up  debts.  My  farming  experience  in  Missouri,  while 
so  far  away  myself,  was  expensive,  and  I  sold  out,  and  gave  away  stock, 
and  rented  the  farm.  That  was  several  years  ago.  Had  I  gone  out  of 
office  at  the  end  of  four  years,  when  my  salary  was  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  I  would  have  been  compelled  to  sell  something— quite  an 
amount — to  have  carried  me  out  of  Washington.  But  with  my  private 
income  and  increased  salary,  I  came  out  at  the  end  of  eight  years  free 
from  debt  and  without  having  incurred  any  loss  anywhere  in  speculation. 

I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  what  you  say  about .     I  always  thought  well 

of  him.  In  fact,  I  could  never  bear  to  think  illy  of  any  one  whom  I  had 
selected  for  responsible  positions,  unless  proven  guilty.  Calumny  has 
been  so  rife  since  the  war  that  it  is  unsafe  to  be  prejudiced  by  what  you 
see  in  partisan  papers.     But  we  will  talk  this  matter  over  within  a  year. 

I  do  not  remember  where  my  last  letter  to  you  was  from.  Since  leaving 
Paris,  however,  I  have  travelled  through  Holland,  North  Germany,  Den- 
mark, Sweden,  Finland,  and  a  portion  of  Russia.  The  New  York  Herald, 
which  comes  by  the  same  mail  as  your  letter,  gives  an  account  of  a  por- 
tion of  my  visit  to  Germany.  The  statement  is  given  very  correctly, 
though  from  accounts  I  see  in  other  papers  the  correspondent  has  fallen 
into  some  errors  in  regard  to  what  I  said  about  military  matters.  I  never 
said,  for  instance,  that  my  losses  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  James  River, 
including  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  was  less  than  forty  thousand  ; 
that  thirty-nine  thousand  would  cover  the  whole.  What  I  did  say  was 
that  since  Taylor's  and  Welles'  letters,  the  public  seem  to  have  fallen  into 
the  idea  that  I  lost  one  hundred  thousand  men  in  getting  to  the  south  side 
of  the  James,  where  I  could  have  gone  by  boat,  without  loss,  and  ignore 
the  fact  that  Lee  sustained  any  loss ;  that  while  the  returns  given  after 
battle,  when  every  captain,  colonel,  and  brigade  commander  would  like  to 
see  our  aggregate  loss  as  small  as  possible,  he  did  not  wish  to  diminish  his 


APPENDIX.  543 

importance  in  the  fray  by  reducing  his  OAvn  losses  :  in  fact,  the  greater  his 
"  killed  and  wounded  and  missing,"  the  more  his  command  might  have 
been  considered  to  have  been  hotly  engaged.  In  this  way  every  man  not 
at  the  first  roll-call  after  an  engagement  was  reported  in  one  of  the  above 
categories.  In  this  way  many  men  have  been  reported  wounded  two, 
three,  or  four  times,  in  different  engagements,  but  never  lost  a  day,  and 
now  live  to  tell  this  honorable  experience.  In  the  same  way  many  men 
are  missing  after  an  engagement,  some  turning  up  afterwards  for  duty 
and  some  as  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  We  captured  and 
buried  more  of  their  men  than  they  claim  to  have  lost.  I  stated  as  my 
recollection  that  our  actual  losses  before  crossing  the  James  River  in 
actual  killed  or  totally  disabled  was  less  than  forty  thousand, — probably 
thirty-nine  thousand  would  cover  it,  but  that  Badeau's  forthcoming  book, 
which  was  taken  from  actual  records,  would  show  the  figures  with  the 
greatest  attainable  accuracy.  But  it  is  only  just  to  the  Herald  corre- 
spondent to  say  that  I  have  not  seen  his  letter,  but  only  the  criticisms  in 
the  New  York  World.  Possibly  he  has  been  correct  in  his  statement.  I 
have  seen  his  Berlin  letter — sent,  I  think,  from  Hamburg — giving  an 
account  of  the  receptions,  dinners,  reviews,  Bismark  conference,  etc.,  and 
they  are  correctly  stated.  There  might  be  a  question  about  the  propriety 
of  some  things  stated,  but  they  are  nevertheless  correct  so  far  as  my  memory 
could  verify  them.     I  hope  I  will  find  the  other  letter  equally  correct. 

I  have  been  very  much  pleased  with  the  people  of  Holland,  Denmark, 
Norway,  Sweden,  and  Finland.  They  are  a  free,  intelligent,  honest,  and 
industrious  people.  My  reception  among  them  was  the  most  cordial,  as 
indeed  it  has  been  everywhere.  Here,  in  Russia,  I  have  been  surprised 
at  the  cordiality  ;  though  there  has  always  existed  a  traditional  friendship 
between  the  two  countries. 

To-morrow  we  start  for  "Warsaw  ;  from  thence  to  Vienna.  We  will  rest 
in  Austria  until  about  the  right  season  for  visiting  Spain  and  Portugal. 
These  latter  states  "done  up,"  I  will  have  been  in  every  country  in 
Europe,  in  Egypt,  and  Africa,  and  a  little  bit  of  Syria  and  Asia  Minor,  in 
Asia  ;  not  much  for  an  "  old  tar,"  but  a  good  deal  for  a  "  landsman." 

I  am  glad  that  Mrs.  Ammen  is  to  keep  you  at  home  for  the  future.  I 
believe  your  determination  to  retire  was  a  wise  one.  If  you  had  been  an 
"old  fogy,"  with  a  family  of  children  all  over  thirty,  I  can  see  why  you 
might  want  to  be  retained  on  the  active  list.  But  with  five  young  children, 
— no  telling  how  many  to  follow, — and  the  retirement  being  entirely  vol- 
untary, I  look  upon  your  course  in  the  matter  as  entirely  wise.  I  have 
had  a  number  of  letters  from  you  since  my  last,  and  am  always  glad  to 
receive  them.  Mrs.  Grant  sends  her  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children. 
Please  present  my  regards  also. 

Yours  very  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

I  forgot  that  I  wrote  to  you  from  here  before  going  to  Moscow. 


544  APPENDIX. 

Gibraltar,  Nov.  15th,  1878. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

On  my  arrival  here,  three  days  ago,  I  found  your  letter  of  the  21st  of 
October,  and  the  very  kind  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  tendering 
to  me  the  use  of  the  Richmond  for  an  Eastern  tour.  I  wrote  to  the  Secre- 
tary at  once,  and  said  that  I  should  have  cabled,  only  that  I  had  previously 
sent  a  message  to  you  saying  that  I  had  determined  on  not  going  home  by 
way  of  China  and  Japan,  at  least  for  this  winter,  and  that  no  doubt  you 
had  communicated  the  message.  I  received  your  previous  letter  of  the 
15th  of  October,  also.  It  seems  a  long  journey  to  go  from  here  to  San 
Francisco  by  water  for  so  little  as  there  is  to  see  along  the  coast.  If  I 
was  alone,  or  with  a  party  of  gentlemen  that  could  penetrate  the  interior 
of  countries  passed  through,  I  should  not  hesitate. 

"We  came  here  making  our  first  stop,  in  Spain,  at  Victoria.  The  young 
king,  hearing  that  I  was  on  my  way  to  Madrid,  invited  me  to  stop  there 
where  he  was  inspecting  and  reviewing  some  twenty-six  thousand  troops. 
I  stopped  two  days.  The  Spanish  troops  make  a  splendid  appearance. 
The  next  stop  was  at  Madrid,  for  a  week.  Madrid  is  improving  rapidly, 
and  has  evidently  improved  much  in  the  last  few  years.  It  is  now  a 
beautiful  city,  with  horse-cars  running  to  every  part.  I  saw  but  little 
evidence  of  improvement,  however,  elsewhere  than  in  Madrid.  It  is  hard 
to  foretell  the  future  of  Spain.  The  people  are  good  enough  if,  as  you 
say,  they  could  see  any  return  for  their  labor.  But,  as  it  is,  there  seems 
to  be  no  integrity  among  the  ruling  class.  Those  who  do  work  receive 
but  the  barest  subsistence.  If  a  man  raises  a  pig  he  cannot  kill  and  eat 
it  without  paying  an  equivalent  to  five  dollars  of  our  money.  The  revenue- 
officers  are  so  abundant  that  there  is  no  chance  of  escaping  any  tax 
except  by  bribery,  which  is  resorted  to,  to  the  extent  of  depriving  the 
government  of  a  very  large  percentage  of  its  revenues.  There  is  the 
greatest  discontent,  and  the  least  thing  would  start  a  revolution.  I  have 
no  idea  that  the  existing  state  of  affairs  can  last  long.  It  will  not  be  long 
before  the  experiment  of  a  republic  will  be  tried  again,  and  probably  with 
more  success  than  the  last  time. 

From  Madrid  we  went  to  Lisbon,  being  in  the  cars  two  nights  and  a 
day.  The  country  passed  through  is  highly  uninteresting.  There  is  no 
place  of  interest  to  stop  to  break  the  journey,  and,  if  there  was,  one 
would  have  to  take  up  his  travel  at  the  same  hour  of  the  day,  or  night, 
he  left  off.  It  is  two  nights  and  a  day  between  Madrid  and  Lisbon, 
whether  you  take  thirty-six  hours  to  make  the  journey,  or  a  whole  year. 

Coming  here,  we  made  stops  at  Cordova,  Seville,  and  Cadiz.  All  of 
them  are  places  of  interest.  On  Monday  we  will  have  a  run,  by  an 
English  man-of-war,  for  Malaga,  will  visit  Granada,  and  return  to  the 
sea-coast  and  go  by  steamer  to  Barcelona.  From  the  latter  place  we  will 
in  all  probability  make  our  way  to  Paris,  and  remain  quiet  until  about 
six  weeks  before  the  time  to  sail  for  home.     I  want  to  spend  about  a 


APPENDIX.  545 

month  with  Nellie  before  going  back,  and  want  to  make  a  run  through 
Ireland. 

Mrs.  Grant  sends  her  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children,  and  her 
very  kindest  regards  to  yourself. 

Very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 
Admiral  D.  Ammen,  U.  S.  Navy. 

On  the  receipt  of  this  letter  I  wrote  the  general  immediately  that  I 
hoped  he  would  reconsider  his  determination  to  come  home  without  having 
gone  around  the  world.  I  said  he  would  find  Japan  particularly  interest- 
ing, and  his  visit  to  China  and  Japan  would  have  an  excellent  result,  in 
placing  our  people  and  our  government  in  excellent  relations  with  them  ; 
therefore  it  seemed  to  me  very  desirable  that  he  should  go  around  the 
world.  I  happened  to  meet  General  Sherman  within  a  few  days,  and 
mentioned  the  above  to  him.  He  said  he  had  received  a  similar  letter 
from  General  Grant,  and  had  written  him  almost  in  the  same  terms. 

Later  on,  when  the  Richmond  did  not  sail  for  two  months  after  the 

time  named  to  General  Grant,  I  wrote  him  that  he  should  not  wait  for 

her,  as  the  season  in  British  India  would  not  wait  for  him.     Let  the 

Richmond  catch  up  with  him  if  she  could, — which  she  did  at  Hong-Kong 

or  Shanghai. 

Pau,  France,  December  6th,  1878. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

On  my  arrival  here,  last  night,  I  found  a  very  large  mail,  and  in  it  two 
letters  from  you.  This  is  my  first  mail  since  leaving  Gibraltar,  from 
where  I  wrote  you.  At  that  time  I  had  fully  determined  not  to  go  by 
India,  China,  and  Japan,  and  so  wrote  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  saying, 
however,  that  if  I  determined  otherwise  before  the  departure  of  the  Rich- 
mond from  America,  I  would  cable  him.  This  morning  I. sent  him  a 
despatch  that  I  would  accept  his  offer  of  a  passage  on  that  steamer.  I 
could  not  say  much  in  a  despatch,  but  I  hope  we  will  be  able  to  join  the 
steamer  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mediterranean,  somewhere  between 
Marseilles  and  Palermo.  This  will  extend  my  trip  and  make  my  arrival 
in  America  some  months  later  than  I  had  expected,  probably  extending 
the  time  into  the  late  fall.  Of  course  going  by  San  Francisco  I  shall 
want  to  spend  at  least  a  month  going  over  old  ground  with  which  I  was 
familiar  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  That  quarter  of  a  century  does  not 
seem  half  so  long  as  the  one  which  preceded  it,  and  passed,  since  you  and 
I  first  received  instruction  under  John  D.  White,  and  a  long  beech  switch, 
cut  generally  by  the  boys  for  their  own  chastisement. 

Mrs.  Grant  wants  me  to  say  now  that  she  regrets  your  retirement, 
because  you  might  accompany  us,  and  she  has  every  confidence  in  you  on 
your  native  element.     I  believe  you  are  a  first-class  farmer  besides. 

I  have  not  yet  received  your  paper  on  the  "Inter-Oceanic  Canal,"  but  \ 
will  read  it  with  great  interest  when  it  reaches  me. 

35 


546  APPENDIX. 

I  have  preserved  with  great  care  a  letter  you  wrote  me  as  much  as  nine 
months  ago,  giving  the  route  and  places  to  visit  on  naval  vessels,  after 
leaving  the  Red  Sea,  until  since  leaving  Gibraltar.  But  I  destroyed  it  a 
few  days  ago.     I  would  be  very  glad  to  get  a  repetition  of  it  now. 

I  am  very  sorry,  with  Mrs.  Grant,  that  you  cannot  be  the  commander 
of  our  proposed  trip,  and  that  Mrs.  Ammen  is  not  to  be  with  us.  Mrs. 
Grant  sends  her  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen,  Mrs.  Atocha,  and  the  children. 
Regards  to  Mrs.  A.,  Mrs.  Atocha,  and  yourself. 

Very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Admiral  D.  Ammen. 

Singapore,  April  2d,  1879. 
Dear  Ammen, — 

Since  my  letter  of  yesterday  I  have  been  thinking  if  I  have  been  in 
any  way  remiss  in  not  informing  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  of  my  deter- 
mination to  proceed  in  advance  of  the  Richmond.  In  thinking  the  matter 
over,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  if  there  has  been  any  neglect  to 
complain  of  I  am  the  one  to  complain.  The  Secretary  was  kind  enough 
to  voluntarily  offer  me  a  passage  on  the  Richmond,  which  his  letter  said 
would  leave  the  States  for  the  Mediterranean  on  the  10th  of  December. 
I  accepted,  and  was  quietly  waiting  in  Paris  until  I  should  hear  of  her 
passing  Gibraltar  before  starting.  I  remained  there  until  home  papers 
of  a  later  date  than  the  10th  of  December  reached  me,  and,  seeing  no 
notice  of  her  departure,  I  got  Mr.  Harjes  to  cable  to  Drexel  to  find  out 
whether  she  had  yet  started.  By  this  means  I  found  that  she  would  not 
leave  until  the  10th  of  January.  If  there  is  punctilio  in  the  matter, 
why  was  I  not  informed?  I  also  telegraphed  to  Admiral  Pattison,  who 
replied  that  he  had  not  a  word  from  the  Richmond.  I  wrote  to  Le  Roy 
three  times,  the  third  letter  because  so  long  a  time  had  elapsed  without  a 
reply  to  my  second  that  I  feared  he  had  not  received  it.  An  answer  came, 
however,  from  a  hotel  in  Nice,  written  evidently  by  his  secretary  and 
sent  through  Stevens  in  London,  stating  that  he  had  been  relieved,  and 
that  Captain  Davis  was  in  charge  and  would  no  doubt  forward  my  desires 
in  any  way  he  could,  if  I  would  write  to  him, — or  words  to  that  effect. 

Very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Peking,  China,  June  6th,  1879. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

I  have  now  been  in  Peking  three  days,  and  have  seen  all  there  is  of 
interest  to  see  in  this  forsaken  city.  Since  our  arrival  we  have  received 
an  American  mail,  and  with  it  your  two  letters  of  the  6th  and  17th  of 
/  April.  I  am  delighted  that  you  consented  to  be  our  representative  at  the 
Congress  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  Inter-Oceanic  Canal,  because  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  another  American  who  understands  the  relative  ad- 
\  vantages  of  the  one  feasible  route  over  all  others,  nor  who  can  state  the 


APPENDIX.  547 

advantages  and  obstacles  in  the  way  of  other  routes  as  clearly  as  you  can. 
If  any  of  the  officers  who  made  surveys  of  any  of  the  proposed  routes  for 
the  canal  had  been  sent,  they  would  have  been  mere  representatives  of  the 
particular  route  they  had  surveyed.  It  might  have  done  to  have  sent  all 
of  them,  as  witnesses  to  testify  to  their  work,  but  under  one  who  had 
examined  the  whole  field  impartially. 

I  have  found  China  and  the  Chinese  much  as  you  have  often  described 
it  and  them.  It  is  not  a  country  nor  a  people  calculated  to  invite  the 
traveller  to  make  a  second  visit.  But  they  are  a  people  of  wonderful 
shrewdness  and  industry,  and  are  rapidly  monopolizing  the  trade,  aa 
carriers,  merchants,  mechanics,  market-gardeners,  and  servants,  from 
Bombay  eastward.  Then,  too,  their  leading  men  seem  to  have  a  thorough 
appreciation  of  the  necessity  for  internal  improvement,  such  as  railroads, 
etc.,  but  have  a  horror  of  introducing  them  with  foreign  capital  and  under 
foreign  control.  Their  idea  seems  to  be  rather  to  educate  a  sufficient 
number  of  their  own  young  men  abroad  to  fit  them  as  engineers,  machinists, 
soldiers,  sailors,  etc.,  and  then  to  make  their  improvements  with  their  own 
men  and  means.  My  belief  is  that  in  les3  time  from  now  than  the  half- 
century  since  you  and  I  first  went  to  J.  D.  White's  school  in  Georgetown 
elapses,  Europe  will  be  complaining  of  the  too  rapid  advance  of  China. 

Mrs.  Grant  joins  me  in  love  to  you,  Mrs.  Ammen,  and  the  children,  and 
also  to  Mrs.  Atocha. 

Very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Admiral  D.  Ammen,  TJ.  S.  Navy. 

Tokio,  Japan,  July  16th,  1879. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

I  have  received  several  letters  from  you  since  I  wrote  last,  the  last  one 
from  Paris.  I  had  previously  read  in  the  New  York  Herald  the  result  of 
the  Paris  Conference  on  the  Inter-Oceanic  question,  and  of  your  triumph 
over  deeply-seated  prejudices.  In  my  judgment  it  was  very  fortunate  that 
you  were  selected  to  go,  and  consented. 

We  have  now  been  nearly  a  month  in  this  interesting  country  and 
among  these  amiable  people.  The  changes,  however,  have  been  very  great 
since  you  were  here  last,  and  there  is  much  that  you  would  not  recognize. 
They  have  now  a  very  perfect  school  system  which  enables  all  classes, 
male  and  female,  to  get  a  fair  education.  They  have  a  Military  and  Naval 
Academy,  both  on  a  better  basis  than  ours  were  for  many  years  after  their 
establishment.  They  have  colleges  for  the  higher  branches,  both  for  those 
going  into  the  public  service  and  those  who  wish  to  obtain  the  highest 
education  attainable,  for  their  own  gratification.  The  gentlemen  connected 
with  the  government  in  any  way,  and  many  merchants  and  other  people, 
dress  in  European  style,  and  not  unfrequently  the  ladies  do  also.  The 
Japanese  are  altogether  the  superior  people  of  the  East.  I  think  I  see, 
however,  dawning  a  new  era  for  China.     They  have  been  learning  two 


. 


548  APPENDIX. 

things  from  the  experience  of  other  Eastern  countries  ;  first,  they  must 

not  mortgage  themselves  to  European  powers  by  borrowing  their  money ; 

the  second,  the  necessity  of  advancement  with  their  own  means  and  the 

employment  of  as  few  foreigners  as  possible  as  instructors.     Their  advance 

will  therefore  be  slow  until  their  own  people  are  instructed  sufficiently  to 

become  teachers.     I  see  by  the  latest  home  papers  that  the  Sultan  of 

Turkey  has  carried  out  his  design  and  sent  me  two  Arab  horses ;  I  wish 

you  would  say.  to  Beale,  after  giving  him  the  respects  of  myself  and  Mrs. 

Grant,  that  I  hope  he  will  take  care  of  them  until  I  return.     If  he  chooses 

to  send  one  to  any  one  having  a  brood  farm,  he  is  at  liberty  to  do  so. 

With  kindest  regards  of  Mrs.  Grant,  Fred,  and  myself  to  Mrs.  Ammen 

and  the  children, 

I  am  yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 
Admiral  D.  Ammen. 

San  Francisco,  Cal.,  Sept.  28th,  1879. 
My  dear  Ammen, — 

We  arrived  here  on  the  20th,  after  a  most  pleasant  and  smooth  sail  of 
nineteen  days  from  Yokohama.  On  my  arrival  I  found  a  letter  from  you, 
and  have  received  one  since.  But  the  kindness  of  the  people  here  has 
prevented  me  from  writing  a  single  letter  to  any  one  until  to-day.  This  is 
Sunday,  and  I  have  gone  to  another  room,  and  consequently  am  "  out." 

I  have  had  no  time  to  read  the  Eastern  papers  since  my  arrival,  and 
there  are  many  that  I  have  not  seen ;  hence  I  do  not  know  the  present 
prospects  of  the  Inter-Oceanic  Canal.  I  approve,  however,  what  you 
have  done  in  the  matter,  and  if  the  people  of  the  United  States  will  take 
hold  of  the  Nicaragua  route  in  earnest — the  only  practicable  route,  com- 
paratively— I  will  give  all  the  aid  in  my  power. 

I  start  for  the  Yosemite  on  Tuesday,  and  after  my  return  go  to  Oregon, 
so  that  I  shall  not  start  East  before  about  the  27th  of  November.  Even 
then  I  do  not  expect  to  go  east  of  Chicago  before  the  holidays ;  but  if  I 
could  do  any  good  for  the  canal  enterprise  by  doing  so,  I  would  go  earlier. 

The  papers  have  told  you  of  my  reception  here.  It  has  been  exceed- 
ingly friendly,  and  apparently  by  the  whole  people.  I  appreciate  it,  of 
course,  very  highly,  but  it  makes  hard  work. 

Give  Mrs.  Grant's  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children,  and  remember 
me  most  kindly.     If  you  see  Beale,  tell  him  that  I  shall  write  to  him  in  a 

few  days. 

Very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Chicago,  Illinois,  Nov.  16th,  1879. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

Your  letter  of  the  12th  is  just  received,  and  the  despatch  referred  to  I 
have  only  just  seen,  although  it  was  probably  promptly  delivered  at  the 
"house  while  I  was  out. 


^  }%L.   2?^   /^  i~^~s£* 

^   ^ J<f  ^^    ^^    ^ 


**j£    </2Lx:  ^2 


^^^»-^_^__      <-^         ^- 


/^^Z-^Z 


^^W-*^^     /yS   /&^-^il  g^z-**^ 


ufifU^^St/* 


APPENDIX.  549 

I  do  not  expect  to  be  east  as  far  as  Philadelphia  before  the  16th  of 
December, — cannot  well  be,  because  I  have  promised  to  stop  a  day  at 
Indianapolis,  Louisville,  Cincinnati,  Columbus,  and  Pittsburg,  by  the  way, 
and  have  set  December  9th  for  being  in  Indianapolis.  If  Mr.  Franco 
desires  to  see  me  before  I  go  East,  and  it  is  not  too  much  trouble  for  him 
to  do  so,  he  might  come  West  and  meet  me  in  Chicago.  I  will  be  back 
here  as  early  as  the  6th  of  December.  I  would  be  glad  to  meet  him  in 
Galena;  but  my  accommodations  there  are  small  and  the  public  accommo- 
dations are  not  attractive. 

In  regard  to  the  Nicaragua  Canal :  It  seems  to  me  the  concession  should 
be  made  by  a  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  the  Nicaraguan  govern- 
ments, and  that  there  should  be  an  act  of  incorporation  by  Congress.  The 
former  could  be  had  without  trouble  or  delay.  The  latter,  I  think,  also 
might  be  obtained  without  trouble,  and  conditional  subscriptions  might 
be  taken  up  without  waiting  for  the  concession. 

The  latter  should  amount  to  $100,000,000  before  any  work  is  commenced. 
My  idea  is  that  subscribers  should  receive  bonds,  interest  payable  semi- 
annually, as  the  money  is  called  for,  and  on  completion  of  the  work  should 
receive  stock  to  the  full  amount  of  the  bonds.  But  all  this  would  be 
determined  after  the  organization  of  the  company. 

It  is  not  certain  now  that  I  will  be  in  "Washington  this  winter,  but  make 
my  head-quarters  in  Philadelphia  during  my  stay  in  the  East. 

Mrs.  Grant  joins  me  in  kindest  regards  to  Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Chicago,  Illinois,  Dec.  5th,  1879. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

I  have  received  all  of  your  letters,  and  noted  their  contents.  Pierre- 
pont  has  also  written  me  in  connection  with  Canal  matters.  He  probably 
informed  you  of  my  answer.  I  have  not  heard  whether  I  am  to  expect 
Mr.  De  Franco  here  or  not.  I  rather  hope  now  I  will  not ;  my  time  will 
be  so  taken  up  with  engagements  from  this  until  Tuesday  morning — when 
I  leave  here — that  I  fear  I  should  be  able  to  give  him  little  time.  How- 
ever, if  he  comes  I  will  manage  to  see  him.  I  presume  nothing  can  be 
done  this  winter  to  prevent  my  carrying  out  my  plan  of  visiting  Cuba 
and  Mexico.  The  charter  for  a  canal,  and  subscriptions  can  be  raised 
without  my  presence.  These  obtained,  a  thorough  survey  of  the  route, 
and  estimates  of  labor  and  costs,  are  the  next  things.  I  agree  with  you 
that  a  thorough  survey  of  the  Panama  route  should  be  made  at  the  same 
time.  If  it  should  be  the  best  route,  it  should  be  adopted.  If  it  is  not, 
it  will  be  worth  while  to  have  the  fact  demonstrated,  to  stop  all 

[This  part  of  the  note  was  on  the  back  of  the  signature  of  General 
Grant,  which  was  torn  off  and  appropriated.] 
at  first.     One  million  seems  to  me  enough  to  commence  the  surveys  with. 


550  APPENDIX. 

The  government,  too,  should  furnish  facilities  from  the  navy, — in  vessels, 
etc., — to  reduce  the  cost  of  surveys  very  materially. 

I  think  now  I  will  not  go  to  New  York  before  my  return  in  the  spring. 
This  will  give  me  time  for  work,  if  any  should  be  necessary,  in  Philadel- 
phia, before  my  departure. 

[This  part  of  the  note,  containing  some  other  writing,  and  the  signature 
of  the  general,  was  torn  off  by  some  unscrupulous  lover  of  autographs.] 

On  the  top  of  the  note  was  written,  in  pencil, — 

P.S. — Since  writing  this,  I  have  received  yours  of  the  3d  of  December, 
hence  retain  your  draft  of  incorporation. 

Havana,  Cuba,  February  8th,  1880. 
My  dear  Admiral, — 

When  I  last  wrote  you  I  neglected  to  say  that  I  received  the  North 
American  Review  containing  your  article  on  the  Lesseps  canal.  I  had 
read  the  article  while  in  Florida,  together  with  some  criticisms  on  it,  char- 
acterizing it  as  more  personal  than  argumentative.  I  could  not  see,  for 
the  life  of  me,  that  the  criticisms  had  any  foundation.  Now  that  Congress 
has  taken  the  matter  up,  there  is  more  reason  to  hope  that  something  may 
be  done  towards  the  solution  of  an  Inter-Oceanic  canal.  Eads  writes  me 
in  favor  of  his  ship-railroad  project,  predicting  for  it  success  and  a  hasty 
completion  when  once  commenced.  Of  course  the  route  for  such  a  road 
would  be  Tehuantepec.  I  never  like  to  predict  that  a  thing  can't  be  done ; 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  a  ship  with  full  cargo  making  a  long  land-voyage 
might  prove  unseaworthy  when  she  got  in  the  water  again. 

We  leave  here  for  Mexico  when  the  steamer  Alexandra — which  sailed 
from  New  York  yesterday — passes  here.  It  is  not  my  expectation  to 
reach  Galena  before  about  the  middle  of  May,  nor  the  Eastern  States 
until  time  to  occupy  my  Long  Branch  house, — say  about  the  first  of  July. 

The  authorities  here  have  been  extremely  hospitable,  as  have  been  the 
people  also.  Last  night  there  was  a  beautiful  fancy  ball  given  to  us  by 
one  of  our  citizens.  But  Mrs.  Grant  and  I  could  not  have  it  in  our  hearts 
to  go,  having  just  heard  of  the  death  of  my  dear  old  friend,  associate  in 
the  Cabinet,  and  travelling-companion,  Mr.  Borie.  I  knew  he  was  weak, 
but  hoped  he  had  many  years  before  him. 

Mrs.  Grant  sends  her  love  to  Mrs.  Ammen,  Mrs.  Atocha,  and  the  chil- 
dren.    With  best  regards  to  all  of  them, 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

Galena,  Illinois,  May  8th,  1880. 
My  dear  Ammen, — 

I  have  your  letter  of  May  the  4th,  and  received  duly  all  your  letters. 
I  received  probably  about  the  time  you  did  the  proceedings  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  of  San  Francisco  on  the  subject  of  an  inter-oceanic  canal,  and 
read  it  with  great  interest.     I  was  going  to  send  it  to  you,  but  supposed 


APPENDIX.  551 

from  your  known  interest  in  the  undertaking  that  you  would  likely  receive 
it  without  my  sending. 

I  shall  not  go  East,  unless  something  changes  my  mind,  before  breaking 
up  here  for  the  winter, — say  about  the  1st  of  December.  My  mind  is  not 
made  up  yet  where  to  spend  the  winter,  but  probably  in  Washington  and 
Florida. 

My  visit  to  Mexico  was  the  pleasantest  in  all  my  travels,  except  possibly 
to  Japan,  and  of  the  greatest  interest  to  me.  I  feel  that  we  may  help  both 
countries  and  help  ourselves  at  the  same  time.  Mexico  is  ripe  now  for 
improvements  that  will  develop  her  great  resources.  If  we  do  not  take 
advantage  of  it  and  establish  friendly  and  commercial  relations,  worth 
millions  annually  to  each  country,  it  will  be  our  own  fault.  It  takes  me 
six  to  ten  hours  a  day  to  read  and  answer  my  correspondence ;  otherwise  I 
would  prepare,  with  some  cave,  articles  on  both  Japan  and  Mexico.  But 
I  lack  the  time  and  the  industry.  Has  Beale  returned  ?  Mrs.  Grant  has 
had  several  letters  from  Emily,  but  he  had  not  returned  at  last  accounts. 

Please  present  Mrs.  Grant's  and  my  kindest  regards  to  Mrs.  Atocha, 
Mrs.  Ammen,  and  the  children. 

Yours  very  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 


New  York  Citt,  Oct.  17th,  1880. 
My  dear  Admiral  Ammen, — 

I  received  your  letter  a  week  ago,  and  have  wanted  to  answer  it  ever 
since.  But  the  fact  is  I  have  not  been  allowed  a  minute  to  myself,  from 
the  hour  of  rising  to  a  late  hour  at  night,  since  I  arrived  in  this  city.  I 
am  now  writing  with  company  in  the  room,  simply  to  say  that  I  received 
your  letter,  and  to  ask  you  to  say  to  Captain  Phelps  that  I  received  one 
from  him  also.  Say  to  him  that  I  will  aid  the  Canal  enterprise  in  any 
way  that  I  can,  and  that  I  will  at  least  act  as  a  director,  subscribing 
enough  to  make  me  eligible  for  the  position,  and  that  I  may  accept  the 
position  of  president  if  it  is  tendered,  and  with  prospects  of  success. 
But  as  to  the  latter  I  must  leave  myself  free  for  the  present,  because  I 
must  either  reside  in  a  cheap  place  or  do  something  to  give  me  immediate 
income.  While  this  Presidential  campaign  lasts,  it  seems  as  if  it  will  be 
impossible  for  me  to  do  more  than  to  see  people.  After  that  I  hope  to 
have  more  time  for  the  real  purposes  of  my  coming  East ;  that  is,  to 
interest  capitalists  in  the  construction  of  railroads  in  Mexico,  and  the 
building  of  an  inter-oceanic  canal.  The  latter  is  embarrassed  by  Eads' 
ship-railroad  scheme  and  the  Parisian  scheme. 

I  hope  to  see  you  soon.  I  shall  probably  go  to  Washington  for  a  day 
or  two  before  long.  Please  present  Mrs.  Grant's  and  my  compliments  to 
Mrs.  Ammen  and  the  children. 

Yours  truly, 

U.  S.  Grant. 


552  APPENDIX. 

New  York  City,  Oct.  11th,  1881. 
My  dear  Admiral  Ammen, — 

We  have  now  been  in  our  new  house  nearly  three  weeks,  and  are  begin- 
ning to  get  things  in  shape  to  receive  all  our  worldly  goods.  Fred  and 
his  family  will  constitute  a  part  of  our  family,  and  for  the  winter  we 
expect  Nellie  and  family.  The  other  two  boys  are  keeping  house,  Buck 
in  his  own  house,  and  Jesse  in  a  rented  one.  Buck  has  taken  the  "  farm- 
ing fever,"  and  has  purchased  about  two  hundred  acres  on  the  Harlem 
Kailroad,  in  Westchester  County,  about  an  hour  from  the  city.  He  was 
fortunate  enough  to  purchase  from  a  city  merchant  who  has  recovered 
from  the  fever,  and  was  able  to  purchase  cheap.  The  farm  is  improved 
with  fine  stone  fences  around  nearly  all  the  fields,  with  barns  for  fifty  to 
one  hundred  head  of  horses  and  cattle,  a  fine  stone  house  with  twenty- 
one  rooms,  all  furnished,  and  large  and  small  fruit  already  bearing.  The 
house  was  rented  out  for  the  summer  for  one  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
land  to  a  farmer  on  halves.  Buck  got  one-half  the  rent  for  the  house,  and 
all  the  rent  for  the  land,  and  got  the  whole  for  twenty-seven  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  less  than  the  house  and  furniture  would  cost  to  replace. 
He  is  already  beginning  to  stock  up,  and  will  no  doubt  be  much  pleased 
for  a  few  years  at  least. 

We  are  now  ready  to  receive  our  goods  from  the  navy-yard,  Washing- 
ton. May  I  ask  if  you  will  be  kind  enough  to  have  them  shipped  to  me 
at  No.  3,  E.  66th  Street,  by  express  ?  I  enclose  you  the  receipts  for  the 
goods,  with  the  numbers  on  the  boxes.  In  addition  to  the  goods  receipted 
for,  there  was  a  large  family  portrait  sent  some  time  after  the  other  goods, 
and  for  which  we  have  no  receipt.  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  have  all 
the  pictures  sent  to  care  of  Goupil,  corner  22d  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue? 

I  wrote  to  you  some  days  ago,  saying  that  the  buggies  and  harness  at 
your  farm  might  be  sent  to  McDermot  for  sale,  but  asking  you  to  accept 
the  light  buggy  with  harness,  for  your  use  about  the  farm. 

With  kind  regards  to  all  your  family,  very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

New  York  City,  October  17th,  1881. 
My  dear  Admiral  Ammen, — 

The  articles  you  were  kind  enough  to  have  shipped  for  me  all  came  to 
hand,  in  good  order,  on  Saturday  last.  If  you  will  be  kind  enough  to 
have  the  balance  of  my  goods  at  the  navy-yard  shipped  as  freight,  I  will 
be  very  much  obliged. 

With  kind  regards  to  all  your  family,  very  truly  yours, 

U.  S.  Grant. 

I  met  General  Grant  for  the  last  time  in  Washington,  in  October,  1881. 
His  residence  in  New  York  was  distant  from  the  part  of  the  city  visited 
by  me  at  intervals.  He  was  surrounded  by  new  friends,  and  many  of 
them,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  would  not  be  missed  should  I  not  call.    I 


APPENDIX.  553 

have  never  had  other  than  the  most  affectionate  regard  for  him,  and  if  in 
his  illness  he  had  sent  a  message  that  he  wished  to  see  me  I  would  have 
been  at  his  bedside  at  once,  and  have  remained  as  long  as  he  desired  my 
presence.  I  never  go  to  New  York,  when  the  weather  and  my  time  will 
permit,  that  I  do  not  stand  at  an  early  hour  in  front  of  that  lonely  tomb  ; 
and  I  am  sure  that  there  is  not  one  of  all  his  old  friends  and  comrades  who 
does  not  wish  to  see  his  remains  removed  to  Arlington.  The  memory  of 
such  a  man  belongs  to  a  great  people, — no  less  to  those  of  the  South  than 
to  those  of  the  North.  His  resting-place  should  be  there,  surrounded  by 
the  tens  of  thousands  who  have  fallen  in  battle,  and  by  the  sturdy  com- 
panions of  the  war,  as  General  Sheridan,  and  many  others,  and  by  those 
who  in  the  near  future  will  be  gathered  to  their  old  companions  in  arms, 
who  now  rest  at  this  burial-spot,  which  will  be  visited  in  coming  centuries 
by  multitudes  who  love  their  country,  and  who  will  wish  to  honor  the 
remains  ot  the  illustrious  men  and  the  unnamed  thousands  who  in  a  dire 
extremity  aided  in  maintaining  the  life  of  a  nation. 


THE   END. 


Printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 


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